


Humbling Magic

by GayMars



Series: Humbling Magic AU [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Magic, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, Background Relationships, Blood and Violence, Demons, Familiars, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Guilt, I love Kuroo I’m sorry I make him suffer so much, Karasuno, Kenma is 18, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Minor Character(s), Nekoma, Panic Attacks, Self-Hatred, Torture, Trauma, kuroken and bokuaka are the main ships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-28
Updated: 2018-08-11
Packaged: 2018-09-12 19:23:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 41,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9086638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GayMars/pseuds/GayMars
Summary: A familiar is a magic-user's best friend. From cleaning the house while you sleep to giving you extra magic when you've depleted all of your own, any sensible magic-user has at least one. Virtually any magical creature can become a familiar if the right spell is cast, so, what should Kuroo do now that his demon form is nonexistent after an exorcism gone wrong turns him into a familiar? Well, how does escaping to the Kenma residence sound?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CrispiestNipple](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrispiestNipple/gifts).



> So this is pretty much dedicated to my friend Sarah, as she was the one who encouraged me to write this ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ

Quiet but ragged breaths escaped Kuroo's mouth as he huddled behind a bush, his back facing the dimly lit neighborhood street in front of the bush. Kuroo's hands gripped the grass beneath him, his eyes begging for a chance to shut and get some rest. He was feeling pretty feeble at the moment and had just barely escaped with his life. He turned around and poked his head through the bushes to survey the street in front of him, there was a street lamp every few feet somewhat lighting up the street and all that could be heard was the quiet chirping of crickets. If the huge gate he had climbed over during his getaway and the large houses lining the streets were anything to go by, then this was a rich neighborhood for sure. Kuroo scowled at the recent memory of his get away. He felt pathetic, what kind of demon nearly gets exorcised and barely escapes with their life?

Kuroo had been doing his usual thing that night, which consisted of tormenting some pathetic non-magic human, when exorcists barged in. Now this wasn't the first time a few exorcists had barged in on his gig, so Kuroo wasn't worried in the slightest. In fact, he had been ready to confidently skin them alive and hang them on the ceiling by their feet, listening to them pleading and screaming for mercy, but they caught him off guard. They threw something at him, it looked like regular water but the second it touched Kuroo's skin it burned and sizzled. Kuroo screamed out in agony, it was holy water. Holy water was extremely hard to find and exorcists hardly ever had any due to how hard it was to obtain. Kuroo had gotten too cocky and had let his guard down, and because of that he had to pay the price.

Kuroo hadn't even fully recovered from being doused in holy water when he was shot with a continual strong blast of white magic, pinning him to the ground as he howled in pain. He could feel the white magic forcing it's way inside of his 'soul'. Demons don't actually have souls, but what he does have acts the same way a soul does; it holds his magic essence and makes him what he is. At that moment, Kuroo was writhing on the ground as the white magic tumbled and swirled around inside of him, too much more and he would've been purified, and hardly any demons actually make it through the purification process.

That would've been the end of Kuroo but Daishou stepped in and stopped the exorcists at the last minute before the process could be completed, much to Kuroo's bitterness. Kuroo hated owing that asshole of a friend anything, much more so his own life. Honestly, Kuroo was pretty sure Daishou waited until the last minute to show up on purpose.

Kuroo saw that the exorcists were preoccupied with Daishou, and took this as his chance to make his escape, and though he felt completely exhausted, Kuroo ran as far as his legs could carry him. Kuroo hadn't bothered to check if anyone was actually following him, and he hadn't even turned his head to check if Daishou was okay before he had escaped— fuck that demon. If he was gonna be an asshole and wait till Kuroo was almost dead to step in then he could fend off the exorcists by himself. Kuroo wasn't sure how far he ran before he came face to face with a large and fancy gate at the entrance to some neighborhood. Kuroo had climbed over the gate, much to his tired body's protest, and hid behind some bushes, which brought him back to the point he's at right now.

Kuroo sighed and tried to shift into his demon form so he could head back to the demon hub and rest, but what he shifted into was much different than what he expected. The form he had shifted into was one of a large black cat with long fur, and suddenly, Kuroo realized something, and it hit him like a train. That's why he was feeling so weak, it wasn't just because he had been tired out by almost being purified, sure that was part of it but it was mostly that he was now literally a creature with inferior magical capabilities. All that white magic that had been forced inside him was still there, it had turned him into a familiar, or at least mostly familiar. And in Kuroo's opinion, he had been turned into a pretty weak one at that.

Kuroo was still tired and his muscles ached, familiar or no familiar, he still needed a place to sleep and rest. So, in his new familiar form, Kuroo slowly padded up to the first house along the street that he saw. He narrowed his amber colored eyes as he read the sign placed outside the big two story house. 'The Kenma Residence' it read. Kuroo had heard of the Kenma family, a husband and wife known around the world for being two very powerful wizards. The wife had even help make some pretty important discoveries in the alchemy field. If he wasn't mistaken, they have a son, one that has a lot to live up to. A big and fancy home like this one was bound to have lots of familiars, so surely Kuroo would be able to sneak in and at least sleep inside the place for the night before he was found out, right?

However, with one look at the place Kuroo could immediately tell there were tons of charms warding off demons and preventing demon from entering. If Kuroo could actually step inside without anything happening then that would mean that so little demon magic was left in him that he couldn't even be recognized as a demon. The thought made Kuroo visibly deflate. Kuroo jumped onto the windowsill of an open window, his paws scrambling to pull him up. He stared into the house, quiet and dark, with the moonlight filtering through the windows being the only source of light. If Kuroo could actually jump in through the window and nothing happen to him it would only prove that his fears are true.

Kuroo held his breath and jumped into the house, his muscles tense as he stood there, waiting for something to happen. When nothing did, his tail drooped and he sighed. Kuroo had practically known it from the start, he felt it inside of him— there was just barely enough demon magic left in him to taint his 'soul', but not enough to allow him to be called a demon. Kuroo had hoped that he had been wrong, but it was now clear to see that he was right. He was now what you would call a demon familiar, which was exactly what it sounded like, a demon turned familiar. Hardly anyone has a demon familiar, mostly because most demon familiars weren't to be trusted, many had been known to turn on their owners.

Kuroo growled in frustration, but he would have to think about it more later, he was still aching all over. Kuroo padded over to the stairway pressed against the wall which led to the second floor of the house. Kuroo sat himself underneath the stairs as far away from sight as he could before tucking his paws underneath himself. He started dozing off, his tired eyes drooping down, eager to finally get some sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

"Oooh! Kageyama! Kageyama! He's waking up!" Kuroo has to admit, someone excitedly shouting in his face isn't the best way to wake up, but he's experienced worse. Kuroo drowsily blinks open his eyes, the voice from earlier seems to have come from a rather short teen crouching down to look underneath the stairs with an excited look on his face and messy orange hair. Kuroo senses the magic from within him and realizes that the orange haired teen must actually be a familiar. Kuroo's eyes widen and he's thrown out of his drowsy state. 'Shit.' Kuroo thinks to himself. He overslept.

Plus, if the teen in front of him is a familiar then that must mean that the familiars caught him. 'Double shit.' he thinks to himself. He's still in his familiar form and has no room underneath the stairs to shift to his humanoid form, so all he can do is scramble to push himself as far away as possible from the opposing familiar with his charcoal colored fur standing on end. Though his day is off to a rough start, at least his physical wounds are all fully healed.

“Shut up, Hinata!” Shouts out someone else out of view, presumably the Kageyama he called out to earlier. Another voice pipes up from behind the familiar now known as Hinata.

“H-Hinata, Kageyama, don’t yell you guys, you’re probably scaring him.” This voice comes from a female, her voice soft and tentative. Hinata changes his stance and stands up as he turns around to look at the female behind him.

“Gwaaa, you’re probably right, Yachi!” Now all Kuroo can see is three pairs of legs, belonging to Hinata, Yachi, and Kageyama. Kuroo reigns in the feline instincts that come with his familiar form and forces himself to calm down some and let his fur lay flat, though his haunches are still a little tense. Pretty much all familiars can keep these subtle urges in check, but Kuroo has never dealt with them so he'll need to learn how to subdue them. Kuroo cautiously inches out from under the stairs a little as the three talk amongst themselves for a moment, and as he's about to poke his head out Hinata's face suddenly swings back into view.

“Sorry if I scared you earlier!” The unexpected yell, coupled with Hinata's sudden movement, makes Kuroo let out a startled meow as he scrambles back to the safety of the stairs to press his back against the wall once more. Kuroo does his best to convey a face of exasperation, since his face is currently that of a cat. After realizing that it's only Hinata, who doesn't seem like much of a threat, he relaxes his body once more. Kuroo wouldn't ever admit that it even happened out loud, but that startled meow he let out a moment ago was pretty embarrassing. Before Hinata can speak to Kuroo again he's interrupted by, yet again, another voice.

This new voice is very leveled and monotonous. The voice doesn't come off as rude or cold, rather, it makes itself out to be polite. It's not the sort of obligatory politeness, just genuinely polite.

“Hinata, Kageyama, could you two quiet down a bit, please?”

“Uwahh, sorry Akaashi-senpai, but you came just in time! The new familiar we found under the stairs just woke up!” Yells Hinata, not even realizing he's speaking too loud once again. The news of Kuroo’s awakening seems to pique Akaashi's interest though.

“Ah, is that so?” Though Kuroo can't see it from where he is, Akaashi raises an eyebrow. He walks towards the stairs and gestures for Hinata to step out of the way before crouching down to get a look at Kuroo. Kuroo's eyes focus on Akaashi's unorderly onyx hair before focusing on Akaashi's face. Akaashi speaks in a calm and non-threatening voice to Kuroo.

“Hello,” he greets civilly. “I am a familiar of this household. My name is Akaashi Keiji. No one in this house has any intention of hurting you, so if you feel safe enough, you are free to come out from under there.” Kuroo narrows his amber eyes at Akaashi, judging if he should trust the familiar in front of him. From what Kuroo can tell, Akaashi doesn't seem like the type of person who would want to fight first and ask questions later, so Kuroo takes a chance and slowly makes his way out from underneath the stairs.

Now that Kuroo's finally no longer underneath the stairs, he stretches, the tip of his poofy tail curling as he does. After Kuroo's finished stretching he shifts back into his humanoid form. By the look on their faces, Yachi, Hinata, and Kageyama seem surprised at seeing Kuroo's form. Kuroo raises an eyebrow at them— on second thought, he does suppose that his familiar form being a cute black cat can be a bit misleading. Akaashi’s face on the other hand, isn’t surprised in the slightest.

“If I may ask,” Akaashi starts, looking directly at Kuroo, as if he's looking into Kuroo's ‘soul’— and for the record, Kuroo really hopes he isn't,— “why did you decide to take shelter in this house?” 

Kuroo bites the inside of his cheek. “Ah. Well, I had a run in with some bad people and they beat me up pretty good. I was tired and had nowhere else to go so I crashed here.” Technically Kuroo wasn't lying, he was just leaving out major details, though most people wouldn't count exorcists as bad people. Akaashi's face didn't change or convey any emotion, yet, it seemed as though there was a spark of distrust in Akaashi's eyes for just a moment; Kuroo hopes he had imagined it. Yachi on the other hand looks surprised and worried while Hinata and Kageyama look interested.

“Uwoahhh! Did ‘ya get in a few good hits before you had to run away!?” Asks Hinata excitedly, with Kageyama looking just as interested to know the answer. Kuroo smirks.

“Well of course I did. You should've seen how badly those punks looked after I ran. Dare I say it, I think those rotten guys ended up worst than me,” states Kuroo smugly.

“Gwahhhh! That's amazing!” Hinata replies with stars in his eyes. Hinata, Kageyama, and Yachi all look absolutely dazzled. Akaashi still looks just as calm and collected as before.

“Hey hey hey! I over heard the story, so who's this tough guy!?” Suddenly yells a familiar with nicely defined muscles and spiked up black and white hair as he barges in. He kinda reminds Kuroo of an owl. Kuroo grins to himself, he likes this guy already.

“Heh heh,” Kuroo smugly places a hand on his chest, “why I'm none other than Kuroo Tetsurou.” Kuroo wasn't acting all charming towards them for no reason. He needed to play nice with them if he wanted to get into good graces with them. This would be a great place to take shelter at until he could figure out what to do now. He's got no way to contact any other demons or head back to the demon hub so really, all he can do is wait, and this house seems like a good place to wait at for now.

“Oho ho.” The new owl-like familiar proudly points his thumb at his chest while his other hand rests on his hip. “Well I'm the amazing Bokuto Koutaro.” Kuroo can feel Akaashi's narrowed eyes on him but he ignores it. Bokuto turns his head to Akaashi like an excited puppy seeking approval. “Aren't I amazing?” Akaashi’s eyes immediately look gentle and softer when Bokuto looks at him. A small smile graces Akaashi's lips and he humors Bokuto. 

“Yes, you are quite amazing.” Hinata roughly nods his head in agreement and Bokuto grins in response.

“See? If Akaashi agrees then it has to be true.” Bokuto proudly crosses his arms and Kuroo laughs. Bokuto then swings his arm around Kuroo's shoulders.“You seem like a good guy, I like you.” Bokuto grins and Kuroo smirks back.

“You're not too bad yourself.”

“So where ‘ya gonna head to now that you're all healed up?” Bokuto waggles his eyebrows. Now’s Kuroo's chance to slip in the idea of staying here.

“Well… I don't really have a place to go home to, sadly.” Kuroo makes a fake sniffling noise and pretends to wipe a tear while Bokuto makes an over exaggerated gasping noise and turns to Hinata, Kageyama, and Yachi.

“We can't allow such a kind soul like this to roam the cold and dark streets! Right guys!?” Hinata and Yachi rapidly nod and Kageyama makes noises of agreement. Bokuto turns his head back to Akaashi. “See? They agree too! Can he stay? We took in Hinata, Kageyama, and Yachi before! We can do with one more person!” Bokuto gives Akaashi his best puppy dog eyes and hugs Kuroo's waist. Kuroo starts hugging Bokuto as well.

“I'll even let you put me to work.” Kuroo bats his eyelashes at Akaashi. Akaashi stares at Kuroo for a moment before looking at Bokuto's face and sighing.

“It's fine with me, and I'm sure it'll be fine with the others, but it's ultimately up to the master of the house, Kenma Kozume.” And speak of the devil, a voice sounds from the top of the stairwell.

“You don't have to call me master, Akaashi.” Kuroo looks up at Kenma and takes in his appearance. He's got a small and slightly pale face that's framed by his blonde dyed hair and black roots, his hands poking out of the sleeves of his baggy red sweater. Something about him interests Kuroo, though he's not sure what.

Kenma looks down at Kuroo from the top of the stairwell.

“So you're the familiar that was sleeping under the stairs?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided that my word minimum for each chapter will be at least 1000 words. I think my posting schedule will be every other week for now, let's see how that works out.


	3. Chapter 3

Kuroo smirks up at Kenma, still in his position where he's hugging Bokuto.

“Yep, that was me, the amazing Kuroo Tetsurou. Am I really so well known already?” Asks Kuroo, his voice smug. Hinata then bounds up the stairs towards Kenma.

“Kenma-san! Kenma-san! You have to let Kuroo-san stay!” Hinata jumps up and down, waving his hands above his head frantically. “He's super cool and everything! He fought some bad guys and was all like, ‘pow!’ and ‘bam!’ and he totally messed them up but he also got hurt so he stayed here so he could rest and he's super tough and funny and— just— he's like— gwahhh!” Kenma raises his eyebrows at Hinata, but before he can even question what Hinata’s actually trying to say Bokuto continues where Hinata left off.

“Yeah yeah! He's super great! He's got nowhere to go home to, so you gotta let him stay! He'll let you put him to work and everything!” Yells Bokuto as he continues to hug Kuroo, his cheek squished against Kuroo's side. Now it's Kenma’s turn to receive Bokuto’s puppy eyes, Bokuto's sticking out his lower lip in an extra effort to convince Kenma, as if he's a little kid begging his parents to let him keep a stray dog he found outside.

Kenma keeps one eyebrow raised and lowers the other one as he processes the gyst of what Bokuto and Hinata are saying. Kenma looks back at Hinata, who's standing in front of him, looking at him with pleading eyes, then to Bokuto’s hunched over form that's still hugging Kuroo, and then finally moving his eyes a little to the left so that they're now focused on Kuroo, who's grinning up at him with a cheshire cat smile.

“What can I say? The people love me,” says Kuroo with a proud tone in his voice. There's a quick and small exhale of air released from Kenma's nose, like when you read something a little funny but it's not enough to make you laugh out loud. His lips also quirk upwards in an almost undetectable half hearted smile for a second. Kenma’s face immediately reverts back to it’s indifferent form and he studies Kuroo for a second longer, and just like when Akaashi had been looking at him earlier Kuroo’s pretty sure Kenma’s looking at his ‘soul’. Kenma’s eyebrows quickly twitch, like he’s wondering something, at least it’s a more positive reaction that what Akaashi had. Kuroo’s not sure why Akaashi agreed to let him stay, Kuroo was pretty sure he saw something in Akaashi's eyes that looked quite like distrust.

“We took in Hinata and his friends back when they were homeless, so you can stay too, if you’d like,” Kenma states simply. Bokuto gasps in excitement and picks up Kuroo from the waist, squeezing him rather tightly— which takes Kuroo by surprise— while Hinata thanks Kenma like a child would to their mother when she promises to get them a toy they've wanted for a long time.

“Kenma’s gonna let me keep you!” Cheers Bokuto. Kuroo snorts.

“Dude, I'm not a stray cat you found outside or something.” Bokuto gasps in response.

“You're right! You're a stray cat I found inside!” Exclaims Bokuto. Kuroo purses his lips and looks away in defeat before shoving his hand against Bokuto's face and snickering.

“Just put me down already.” Bokuto does as Kuroo has asked immediately and drops Kuroo from his grasp, leading to Kuroo nearly falling over because he hadn't been ready to be let go of yet. “Rude,” Kuroo says in a sassy tone as Bokuto laughs at him. Before they can continue with their antics Akaashi speaks up.

“Ah, now now Bokuto, Kuroo-san still needs to meet all of the familiars he’s going to be working with.” Akaashi turns his head to Hinata. “Hinata, why don't you round up everyone else and let them know we'll have a friend joining us.” Friend— Kuroo finds that word choice strange, could he really have just imagined the distrust he had seen for a brief moment in Akaashi-san’s eyes? Akaashi continues on with his previous sentence. “You can take Yachi-san and Kageyama-san with you if you and them would like.” With that, Hinata, Kageyama, and Yachi speed off to go gather everyone else so they can properly meet Kuroo. 

“Whew, chibi-chan and his friends sure are excited,” chuckles Kuroo as he watches Hinata and co run off. Meanwhile, Kenma tugs on the sleeves of his sweater as he walks down the stairs. Kenma looks over to Akaashi when he reaches the bottom.

“I'm going to go have breakfast now, I would never hear the end of it from Suga if I skipped breakfast now after eating it for two consecutive weeks in a row.” Akaashi nods with a twinge of a smile present on his face while Kuroo lets out a small chuckle, whoever this Suga is, they seem quite like the motherly type. Kenma looks at Kuroo and Bokuto and gives them both a polite nod before exiting the room, heading for the kitchen.

In the end Kuroo met a total of seven new familiars and learned the full names of Hinata, Kageyama, and Yachi. He had been right about Suga-san, he's definitely the motherly type. The best way to describe Suga-san is probably… refreshing. His boyfriend, Daichi-san, definitely seems like the cunning type to Kuroo. There's also the megane Tsukishima-kun, who Kuroo's definitely gonna start calling megane-kun from now on. Megane-kun’s boyfriend, Yamaguchi-san, seems to be a little intimidated by Kuroo, much to his amusement. Those were just the new people that he found the most interesting.

After meeting everyone they went back to doing their jobs, including Hinata, Kageyama, and Yachi. Leaving just Kuroo, Akaashi, and Bokuto together.

“Bokuto,” Akaashi starts, “you can show Kuroo-san around the house if you'd like.” Bokuto nods his head vigorously in acceptance. “Before you do though, I'd like to have a word with Kuroo in private.” This surprises both Kuroo and Bokuto. Bokuto doesn't question it though and nods contently before heading out the room to give them privacy. Kuroo raises an eyebrow at Akaashi.

“What do you wanna talk to me about?” Asks Kuroo cautiously, Akaashi sighs before speaking.

“Forgive me if I seemed weary of you earlier. I had recognized what you are shortly after you had come out from underneath the stairs.” Kuroo's eyes widened slightly. ‘There's no way he knows… he would've had to seen one before to know,’ thinks Kuroo to himself. “I've been around long enough to have seen your kind before, you're a demon familiar.” Kuroo's eyes are full of surprise now. “As you know, I have quite valid reasons to distrust you too, but… Bokuto's also been around long enough to know what you are, yet, Bokuto trusted you immediately. Bokuto has an eye for spotting the good in people, so if he's going to trust you, then… I will put aside my weariness and trust you too.” Whatever Kuroo's trying to say gets stuck in his throat because of how surprised he is.

“I— h-how di— j-just how old are you? H-how can you tell what I really am?”

“Ah, me and Bokuto are maybe 650 years old, maybe older. We've been through alot together. I can tell that you've only recently become a demon familiar, so I'll tell you some things you may not know, or things you just never bothered to learn as a demon.” Kuroo squints his eyes at Akaashi.

“Why are you being so kind to me, how can you have so much faith in Bo’s ability to trust me?”

“Even the worst of people can change for the better. He taught me that,” Akaashi states. Kuroo can guess that there's a long history behind those words, but he doesn't ask what it is. Instead, he stays silent. “Some important things you should know is that that thing inside you that carries your magic, it's called your anima. As you know, it's almost like a soul, but not quite. Only humans have both a soul and anima, and as you know, if you were to look at the anima of any regular creature, including humans, it would be pure. The one exception is the one I'm sure you're aware of, demons, whose anima are pitch black. However, right now, due to all the pure magic that was forced into your anima during the failed purification process, your anima is almost completely pure, with only a speck of that foul magic you once had remaining. Unless you find a way to revert back to your demon form then over time, that speck of demon magic within you will slowly deteriorate until it no longer exists and you’ll become purely familiar.” That explained the look Kenma made when he had looked into Kuroo's anima, Kenma's never seen that before.

“You sure know a lot about demon familiars,” Kuroo remarks.

“I've been alive for a quite a while, you're bound to learn things,” states Akaashi simply. “Maybe one day I'll tell you the full story,” muses Akaashi as his eyes fall on the door frame of the door Bokuto had exited the room from. “Bokuto,” Akaashi says, “I know you've been listening, you can come out,” he says with a hint of amusement laced in his voice.

“Aw, ya caught me!” Calls Bokuto as he jumps into Kuroo and Akaashi's view. Bokuto goes up to Kuroo and pats his back with an unnecessarily strong amount of force, grinning. “Don't worry, your secret’s safe with me!” Kuroo rubs his now slightly sore back.

“Thanks—” Bokuto interrupts Kuroo without even realizing it.

“Anyways, time to give you the tour of the house!”

“Just be careful not to break anything,” warns Akaashi.

“You got it!” Grins Bokuto while Kuroo makes an okay sign with his hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *whispers* if you're curious about Akaashi and Bokuto's back story then don't worry; I will eventually write a spin off story about how Bokuto and Akaashi met. Tee hee.


	4. Chapter 4

Bokuto clumsily pulls Kuroo up the stairs with eagerness, letting out a yelp when he nearly trips over his own feet and pulls Kuroo down with him. Kuroo lets out an exasperated huff once they reach the top of the stairs.

“That was the second time in two days that I’ve almost died, ya know,” quips Kuroo in a matter of fact way. Bokuto gasps.

“No way man!” Bokuto assures, placing his large hand on Kuroo’s shoulder in what's supposed to be a comforting manner. “As a final act of heroicness I would've used my body as a shield to protect you from the fall!” Bokuto obviously expects Kuroo to praise him for his selflessness; in reality if they had fallen down the stairs together they would have only received a bruise or two— which would've quickly healed— plus a 'you guys are idiots, how the hell do you trip over your own feet’ type of look from Akaashi. Kuroo clasps his hands together and uses an obviously fake sweet sounding voice.

“My hero!” Kuroo leans against Bokuto and bats his eyelashes up at him while Bokuto crosses his arms proudly.

“It's no big deal,” he says smugly, “Anyway, time to show you the top floor of the house!” Bokuto rubs his palms together with eagerness. He shows Kuroo all the rooms on the top floor, which are mostly guest rooms, bathrooms, Kenma's parents’ bedroom, and Kenma's own bedroom. Its door is closed and Bokuo advises to always knock first before entering Kenma's room, out of courtesy.

Bokuto then leads Kuroo back down the stairs and shows him the ground floor, which has a very large kitchen and dining area, the living room where a few familiars are socializing, a training room— which is mostly for the familiars— and the room where the familiars of the Kenma household sleep. The room is plenty large to accommodate all the house’s familiars and has tons of brightly colored fluffy blankets and pillows. 

The final place Bokuto stops by to show Kuroo is the library. The place is decently sized and even has a few tables in the corner to sit at while you read. Kuroo can't help but feel intrigued by the decorative candles in the center of the reading tables. Why, exactly, that he doesn't really know. The small flickering flames atop the candles— which don't seem to be melting any wax— are drawing him in, Kuroo knows this could potentially be a very stupid idea but he slowly reaches his hand out towards the candle’s flame anyways. 

The flame that was previously burning on top of the candle now easily slides onto Kuroo's palm, which surprises Kuroo just as much as it does Bokuto.

“Woahhh! You never told me you're a pyromancer!” yells Bokuto in awe as he moves his face close to Kuroo's palm, where Kuroo continues to gently sway the fire around. 

“That's ‘cause I didn't know in the first place.” Kuroo deadpans as he proceeds to squish his palms together, extinguishing the small fire.

“Oh oh! See if you can light the candle again!” Bokuto yells, excitement clear on his face. 

“Worth a shot,” states Kuroo as he brings his pointer finger up against the wick of the candle. Kuroo focuses on creating flames; not huge ones, mind you, just a small and nearly harmless one. Kuroo does this successfully and as the wick bursts into a small flame, Bokuto gasps in amazement. Though Kuroo won't admit it, he's proud of himself for accomplishing the small achievement.

“Man, I haven't met another pyromancer familiar besides Akaashi in a long time,” Bokuto says in a reminiscent tone.

“How long?” Kuroo raises an eyebrow.

“Probably 631 years,” answers Bokuto, nonchalantly.

“Geez, is it really that uncommon?” Kuroo asks with his eyebrows raised in surprise.

“Well it's actually really common in demon familiars since it's the most chaotic form of white magic. It's the most fitting thing for them, since demons are usually necromancers, body controllers, and other chaotic magic controllers. No offense, but it would be bad if every single demon familiar kept their original magic. So it's just that there aren't a lot of demon familiars,” Bokuto explains. Kuroo stifles a laugh.

“What's this? Bokuto is actually knowledgeable in a subject other than stuffing his face with food? Surely I'm dreaming,” teases Kuroo.

“Hah? That's very rude! I'll have you know that I am super smart and knowledgeable in many subjects!” Bokuto yells indignantly as he sulks in the corner.

“Mhm, keep tellin’ yourself that, buddy.” Comforts Kuroo, using his trademark annoying grin as he pats Bokuto's back.

“Oh that reminds me!” Bokuto yells as he suddenly jumps up, no longer in his dejected mood. “Since you're a pyromancer like Akaashi, you'll be sharing your duties with him!”

“Oh? And what are his duties?” Kuroo asks.

“Mostly helping out the other familiars when they need it and protecting Kenma's bed, in a sense. Even though pyromancy is the most chaotic form of white magic it can also be calm and gentle. Sleeping besides a pyromancer— human or not— prevents nightmares, and just makes an overall more peaceful and well rested sleep!” Kuroo squints at Bokuto in suspicion.

“You sure Akaashi isn't secretly giving you this information via telepathy or something,” questions Kuroo, and that’s when Bokuto's dejected mood starts up again.

 

Kenma sits at the table in the dining area all by his lonesome, eating cereal as he watches a lets play on his phone, aware that Suga-san and Daichi-san are in the kitchen as Suga had insisted on pouring the milk for Kenma when he first got his cereal out. He hears Bokuto and Kuroo run up the stairs, followed by the sound of Bokuto yelping, he can only guess that Bokuto nearly fell down the stairs. Kenma's almost done with his cereal when Hinata slides into the seat next to him.

“Hey Kenma-san!” greets Hinata, as lively as usual.

“Hi, Shouyou,” Kenma says, his eyes flickering over to Hinata’s face for a moment to show that he's listening to him before going back to the video. Hinata immediately starts bombarding Kenma with questions once he knows he has part of Kenma's attention.

“So what do you think about Kuroo-san? Do you think he's cool? Do you like him?” Hinata asks with great interest.

“What do I think about Kuroo-san…” Kenma repeats before shrugging. “He's funny,” Kenma mumbles, staring down at the small amount of cereal left in his bowl. ‘He’s also not half bad looking.’ Kenma keeps that last thought to himself and instead comments on something else. “I won't lie though, he's got some weird hair.” Kenma says, letting out a small and quiet laugh before eating a spoonful of mostly milk, only three flakes of cereal in the spoon.

“I think he's super cool and tough!” says Hinata.

“I figured you would. From how he's acting with Bokuto you'd think that they're close friends.” Kenma comments as he spoons the last bit of cereal into his mouth. Hinata gasps in response.

“Wait— are you jealous, Kenma-san?” Hinata asks jokingly. Kenma nearly chokes on his cereal though, his face becoming red with blush as he starts coughing. 

“Gahh!” Hinata panics. “I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry! It was just a joke, don't die!” yells Hinata, his voice frantic. As Kenma's coughing dies down he waves his hand at Hinata in a disregarding manner.

“I-it's fine, Shouyou, I just wasn't expecting it.” Kenma says, trying to sooth Hinata and hoping the blush on his face will leave soon— instantaneously, if possible. Akaashi's voice sounds from the dining room’s entrance.

“Are you alright, Kenma-san?” He must've heard Kenma's mini coughing fit.

“Y-yeah, I'm fine,” assures Kenma as he stands up to go wash his empty cereal bowl and spoon, Hinata right by his side. When he gets in the kitchen though Suga immediately takes the bowl and spoon out of Kenma's hands, saying that he'll do it for Kenma, a kind smile on his face the whole time. Kenma, knowing that Suga won't take no for an answer, lets Suga take his dishes from his hand. Kenma bids Hinata a farewell as Hinata now has to go finish up the rest of his chores. Kenma puts his phone in his pocket and trudges up the stairs and back to his room to play on his PS4.

After about a little under three hours of playing Metal Gear Solid the Phantom Pain, Kenma hears a knock on the door.

“It's me, Bokuto!” calls Bokuto from the other side of the closed door.

“You can come in.” Kenma says, in his usual bored tone. Bokuto opens the door so there's only enough space for him to poke his head through.

“Akaashi asked me to check on you; do you need anything?” Bokuto asks, happy to do the assigned task since it was Akaashi who had asked it of him. Kenma pauses the game for a moment to to think.

“Can I have a glass of water?” Asks Kenma. Bokuto sticks one arm through the door so he can salute Kenma.

“One glass of water coming up!” Bokuto yells before closing the door to go get water. As he's venturing down the stairs Hinata stops him.

“Bokuto-san Bokuto-san! Can you practice with me in the training room?” Hinata asks, eyes full of hope. Bokuto can already feel his simple resolve of getting Kenma a glass of water cracking. Bokuto was in a jam, but then he saw Kuroo exit the dining area and then he got an idea.

“Sure! I'll practice with you!” Bokuto grins before calling out to Kuroo. “Oi Kuroo, can you get Kenma some water?” 

“Eh? Sure,” Kuroo responds. Bokuto races with Hinata to see who can get to the training room first, leaving Kuroo at the bottom of the staircase. Kuroo gets water from the kitchen, courteous of Suga, and makes his way up the stairs, knocking on Kenma's door.

“Come in,” says Kenma, expecting it to be Bokuto.

“Surprise, Kenma-san.” Kuroo says in a sing song voice, his usual grin present and a glass of water in hand. “I've brought an offering to appease you, mighty video game hermit.” Kenma rolls his eyes and pauses his game, sitting at the end of his king size bed and towards the middle as he takes a sip from the glass of water.

“I've never played a video game before, what's it like?” Kuroo asks out of curiosity.

“You've never played a single video game?” Kenma asks incredulously, making it sound like Kuroo has committed some sort of crime, although in Kenma's eyes he pretty much has.

“Nope, not even one,” he answers, not aware what the big deal is. Kenma scoots over to the left so there's enough space to sit next to him.

“Get over here, Kuroo-san, I'm teaching you how to play video games,” says Kenma, completely serious.

“As you wish, mighty video game hermit.” Kuroo sits down next to Kenma's shorter—as well as slouching— figure, a good amount of space between them, a grin playing on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've decided that my new word minimum is gonna be 1600+ words, I do hope that I can finish this fic by the end of the year.


	5. Chapter 5

Kenma saves his own game and quits before quickly hopping off his bed to scan through his shelves of video games. Kuroo simply stares at Kenma's back as he looks through shelves, still not sure what the big deal is. ‘It must be worth it if Kenma-san is this intent on making me play one,’ Kuroo assumes as he thinks to himself.

Kenma puts some real thought into what video game should be Kuroo’s first. After all, he has a pretty large selection to choose from. Kenma narrows it down to something on the gamecube, just to start Kuroo off, and he soon knows just which game to choose. Kenma, not being a barbarian, has his shelves alphabetized and moves over to where the “T’s” start and quickly picks out The Legend of Zelda Collector's Edition, and though it has a couple games on it Kenma has a certain one in mind, Majora's Mask, which is a personal favorite of his. Kenma won't deny that there are problems with the game, but it's still a good game.

Kenma quickly opens the top of his gamecube and puts in the small disk before closing it and pressing the power button, watching with a small pang of nostalgia just like every other time he loads up his older games as it whirrs to life, still running as good as new. Kenma quickly selects Majora's Mask as the game they're gonna play and hands Kuroo the gamecube controller as he sits back down on the bed, Kuroo raises one eyebrow as he inspects the controller’s strange shape while the title screen appears. Kenma gives Kuroo a rundown on how to use the controller and Kuroo does as the screen says to do and presses start, following the action by creating a new game file. Kenma carefully watches Kuroo's face, gauging his reaction to the intro and the small amount of exposition, his face only holds a faint amount of interest so far.

“Wait, that little kid is supposed to be the legendary hero?” Kuroo asks as the screen shows Link wandering the forest on Epona, “He’s literally 8 years old.” Kenma snorts at Kuroo’s commentary. Kenma can tell that Kuroo's interest has been raised a little once Skull Kid appears, but he's starting to doubt if Kuroo will actually like the game. It's only until Skull Kid tries to take off with Epona and Link's Ocarina, Link in tow, only holding on by one of Skull Kid’s legs does Kenma hear Kuroo growl under his breath, “oh that fucker did not just do that.” A tiny smirk appears on Kenma’s face, he's successfully gotten Kuroo hooked.

Though he doesn't say it, Kenma actually finds most of Kuroo's commentary throughout the game quite funny. Some highlights of the commentary being a soft, “what the fuck,” when Link falls into the tree and sees the trippy images floating around him, that plus threatening to blow a rape whistle when the Happy Mask Salesman confesses to have been following Link, though to Kenma, what was even better than that was Kuroo's complete panic as he tries to fight Skull Kid on the third day while the goddamn moon is about to crash down on them. Kenma doesn't think he's ever seen anyone so distressed while playing that part.

After maybe 3 hours of Kuroo playing and occasionally getting Kenma to help him he saves the game and says he wants to try another one, and Kenma is quite obliging in delivering another game for Kuroo to try out. This time, they play Mario Kart against each other. Kenma is an absolute master at it though, Kuroo has been doomed from the start, and Kenma knows it. Kenma warns Kuroo ahead of time about being the master of Mario Kart but Kuroo waves it off and says that he likes a challenge. And of course ten consecutive losses later Kuroo complains about it being unfair and actually tries several times to sabotage Kenma by using a bit of magic; none of which are successful, it seems Kenma is expecting sabotage after past experiences with others.

After winning countless races against Kuroo, Kenma decides to show some mercy to him and lets Kuroo win one race, of course Kenma plays it up and makes it seem like it's a close race, making it look like Kuroo just barely managed to score the win. In reality Kenma could've easily dominated Kuroo on that track, but Kuroo's face, which is holding a genuinely happy grin for once instead of the usual sly and mischievous grin, plus the way Kuroo throws his arms up in victory make Kenma think that maybe the sacrifice of a bit of his honor was worth it.

“Good job, Kuroo, ” Kenma praises.

“I know, I was great, I can't believe I finally beat you,” Kuroo says pridefully before continuing, “you gotta watch your back now, I'm gonna be comin’ for your title of master Mario Kart racer.” This makes Kenma snort.

“Don't get your hopes up,” Kenma remarks as they get ready to play another round.

 

Akaashi walks towards the training room, knowing that's probably where Bokuto is. Hopefully Bokuto will know where Kuroo is; Akaashi hasn't seen him since Bokuto finished his tour with him. When Akaashi opens the door to the training room he's greeted with the sight of Bokuto laughing heartily as he sits on top of Hinata, effectively keeping him completely pinned down no matter how much he struggles.

Bokuto notices Akaashi approaching him and energetically waves at him. “Akaashi Akaashi! Look, I beat Hinata again! Aren't I so strong?” Though it’s obvious that Bokuto would win against Hinata, Akaashi humors him as usual.

“Yes, Bokuto. You are very strong,” Akaashi praises before his eyes flicker down to greet Hinata. “Hello Hinata.”

“H-hi Akaashi-senpai,” greets back Hinata, a little squished in his current position. Bokuto's about to say something more that'll inflate his ego but is cut short by Hinata, who's still trapped underneath him.

“Y-you win this round, Bokuto-san, but I want a rematch!” Hinata yells, still full of energy and determination even after already losing countless rounds against Bokuto. 

Bokuto laughs. “Oho ho? Really?”

“Ah, actually, before you do that,” interrupts Akaashi, “Bokuto, I was wondering if you knew where Kuroo-san is?”

“Eh?” Bokuto thinks for a moment. “I asked him to get water for Kenma and I didn't see him afterwards… oho ho… you don't think he's still with Kenma, do you?”

Akaashi hums thoughtfully. “That would be the fastest he's ever warmed up to any of the new familiars; even with Hinata it took more time for Kenma-san to warm up to him. It's nice that he’s becoming friendly with Kuroo-san so quickly. Anyways,” says Akaashi, starting to wrap up his small visit, “I should let the two of you get back to your practicing.”

“Wah? No, don't leave yet!” Bokuto whines. “It's not like you're still busy, c’mon, stay and cheer for me!” 

Akaashi contemplates this for a moment before sighing. “Alright, I'll stay and watch.”

Bokuto finally gets off of Hinata and grins. “Can I have a kiss for good luck?” Akaashi knows that Bokuto most certainly doesn't need it, but, after all these centuries he still just can't seem to say no to Bokuto sometimes. Akaashi tilts his head up and puts his hands on both of Bokuto's cheeks and tilts Bokuto's head down. Akaashi places his soft lips on top of Bokuto's forehead for a sweet kiss, and though the kiss is nothing tremendous, it gets Bokuto flushed and ready to take on the world.

Hinata and a slightly red in the face Bokuto charge off to have a rematch while Akaashi goes to sit at a resting bench so he can watch them. “Don't be too hard on Hinata, Bokuto,” Akaashi calls out before the two get back to their match.

 

As Kuroo finds out, time really does fly when you're playing video games, because when he first entered Kenma's room it was barely just turning 12pm but it's not until they take a quick break from Kirby Air Ride that Kuroo hears Kenma's stomach growl and realizes that they accidentally skipped lunch and that it's already dinner time.

Kenma looks over at the clock. “We should go get something to eat,” he suggests.

“You're just jealous that I'm finally better than you at a game,” Kuroo says smugly, clearly proud of himself. Kenma just raises an eyebrow.

“Actually, I've been keeping track of our wins and losses and we’re tied,” Kenma corrects. Kuroo deflates a little.

“Fine, let's go get something to eat…” he grumbles out defeatedly as he stands up. Kenma lets out a quiet laugh in response, Kenma doesn't even realize he's laughed, but Kuroo does, and he's surprised. Not necessarily surprised because Kenma finally laughed, but more so because he’s the one that got Kenma to laugh. Kuroo hides his look of surprise though and opens the door for Kenma, as they make their way down the stairs Kuroo trails behind Kenma. Kuroo realizes two things as he trails behind Kenma; one, he likes the way Kenma sounds when he laughs, and two, he wants to make him laugh again, except next time he wants Kenma to laugh a lot louder.

'Fuck,’ Kuroo thinks to himself, 'I am not acting like my usual self. My usual self is stronger than this, my usual self is much more of an asshole than this, my usual self is… is crueler than this… but then again, my usual self also skins people alive and slits their throats for fun… my usual self is a demon, which I'm technically not anymore, soooo… shit. But, I think I actually prefer this— being a familiar over a demon.’ 

The white magic in Kuroo’s anima really has done way more than he predicted. In less than a full day he's become so much of a better person than he once was, but why? Demon familiars have a reputation for not being trustworthy because most of them keep their demonic nature so— ah, the key word here is most. Most demon familiars keep their demonic nature, and most stay as demon familiars until they die, but not all. Kuroo is one of those who fit into the “not all” category. Kuroo wasn't quite sure why Akaashi had told him that he was one of the rare occasions where the demon familiar slowly becomes a regular familiar but he just assumed that there was some certain way of being able to tell that he wasn't aware of. 

And technically, he was right.

Because maybe at the very beginning he actually had been playing it strategic and was only being nice to get on their good side, but pretty much once he met Bokuto that just became his excuse to himself. Kuroo's becoming less and less demonic because he's letting himself, and as he's just found out, he doesn't really mind it. 

But there's one feeling that Kuroo just can't quite place, when Kenma let out that quiet laughter Kuroo felt this weird feeling in his chest, he's got no idea what it was, but he didn't necessarily dislike it.

“Uh, Kuroo?” Kenma finally manages to snap Kuroo out of his thoughts. He realizes that he's been standing at the bottom of the stairs staring at nothing for a few seconds now.

“Eh? R-right, sorry, let's go get dinner,” Kuroo fumbles out as he starts walking again. Kenma isn't completely sure but he's thinks he might've seen just the tiniest hint of a blush on Kuroo's cheeks just before Kuroo snapped out of it, but surely Kenma was just imagining it, right?

Throughout the delicious dinner—courtesy of Suga—Kuroo spends it in the living room hanging out with Akaashi, Bokuto, and Kenma. And even after dinner is over they still stay and talk for several hours, even though it's mostly Kuroo and Bokuto talking while Akaashi occasionally comments on something and Kenma listens. Then, Akaashi brings up sleeping arrangements.

“Ah, Kenma-san, I don't think that Kuroo-san told you, but Bokuto informed me that Kuroo-san is a pyromancer,” Akaashi says. “As such,” he continues, “from now on me and Kuroo-san will be sharing the nightmare-shunning duties.” Akaashi then turns his head to Kuroo. “I hope you don't mind starting tonight?”

“Don't worry about it, I'll be fine, I'm sure Bokuto will enjoy being able to sleep next to you more often from now on.” Kuroo's face hold a suggestive grin.

“Duuude, what the heck,” whines an extremely red in the face Bokuto.

“What? I'm not wrong, am I?” Kuroo teases as he wiggles his eyebrows. Bokuto then proceeds to try to smother Kuroo with a pillow. Kuroo uses his new familiar form to his advantage though and changes into it then springs away in the nick of time.

“Hey, you can't use your familiar form, that's cheating!” Bokuto calls. Akaashi and Kenma just roll their eyes and before long there ends up being a black cat scurrying about as it gets chased by a great horned owl. Akaashi steps in before they break anything though.

Soon after that they all get ready to go to bed. Kenma's room has it's own bathroom so while Kenma gets ready for bed in the bathroom Kuroo sits at the foot of Kenma's bed in his familiar form, his fluffy tail covering his paws. Kenma walks out of the bathroom wearing an oversized t-shirt with a cool little graphic design and brick red shorts. He trudges over to his large bed and climbs into the fluffy sheets, noticing Kuroo getting comfortable at the foot of the bed. Kuroo sits in a position that makes him look like the shape of a loaf of bread, sitting on his tail as he tucks his paws under his chest to where you can't even see them; Kenma has always found it adorable when cats do that.

With a small wave of his hand Kenma turns off the lights and gets comfortable in bed. It's completely silent in his room for a few moments until he speaks up, “…goodnight, Kuroo.” Kenma says, staring blindly into the darkness of his room.

Kuroo's pleasantly surprised by this and lets out a meow akin to ‘goodnight, Kenma.’ It's not long before they both drift off into slumber.


	6. Chapter 6

Though it's only technically been a little over four weeks since Kuroo's first official stay at the Kenma household, it would be a blatant and obvious lie if he were to say that he doesn't enjoy the time he's spent here so far. A lot of that time has been spent with a certain owl haired familiar and that familiar’s partner, but even more so that time has been spent in a certain pudding head’s company. A pudding head who he's grown quite informal to quite quickly; in other words, he very much so appreciates Kenma's company— even if he's usually doing most of the talking.

Kuroo kinda forgot that Kenma has a life— albeit not a very large one— outside of sitting at home all day. He forgot that Kenma most certainly has friends from school and that Kenma's a student, and it's only summer break; which is why he's a little surprised when Suga offhandedly mentions that two of Kenma's friends are coming over to hang out today as he helps Suga and Daichi with the dishes from breakfast. 

If Kenma's having friends over that means Kenma's probably gonna have to keep all his attention on them, which means that his attention wouldn't be on Kuroo as it usually has been since Kuroo got here. Kuroo outwardly appears to be unaffected but his shoulders slump a little as he scrubs tiny pieces of burnt pancake off the pan he’s holding, not noticing the other pair of familiar's knowing smiles that seem to be aware of something he isn't. Kuroo truly does act like a needy cat at times.

He unconsciously tries washing the dishes faster.

When Kuroo finishes washing his share of the dishes he bids a good natured, “see ya later,” to Suga and Daichi before he heads up the stairs. As he makes his way up the stairs, Hinata— in his familiar form, which is the smallest, fluffiest, orange dog Kuroo's ever seen— speeds down the stairs, running right in between Kuroo's legs while letting out tiny yaps that only a dog as small as him could make. Barely two seconds later a predominantly black German Shepard— aka Kageyama's familiar form— barrels through the door Hinata had come from, growling and proceeds to also run down the stairs, following the route Hinata took once at the bottom of the stairs. ‘Having so much energy, ah to be young again.’ Kuroo thinks semi-jokingly to himself.

As per usual he gives Kenma's door three consecutive knocks before he hears Kenma call, “come in, Kuroo,” from the other side. Kuroo doesn’t bother to ponder on how Kenma already knew it was him.

Kuroo opts out of playing video games along with Kenma for now in favor of just watching Kenma play as he lays next to him, belly down on Kenma's bed; Kenma's playing a rather beautiful yet simple game called Journey on his PS3.

“So I've heard you've got friends coming over soon?” Kuroo asks after roughly an hour of their banter plus Kuroo's commentary on the game.

“Yep,” is all Kenma says.

“I wasn't aware you were actually somewhat social,” Kuroo teases, feinting a surprised tone.

“I do only have a small circle of friends, but at least I'm not desperate enough to be friends with someone like you.” Just a hint of a smirk plays on Kenma's lips as he makes the hooded and nameless character within the game hide in the ruins of some structure, out of sight from the large creature and it's glowing, searching eye.

“Ouch.” Kuroo holds one hand over his heart and says it with a tone of voice as if he's genuinely offended. “That stung, a lot.”

Kenma playfully rolls his eyes. “You're a big kitty, you can take the pain.”

“Wh— this big kitty is an absolute blessing to be around, you should be thanking me every time you're in my vicinity,” Kuroo says with dignity, turning up his nose away from Kenma.

“Right, sure,” chuckles out Kenma. Kuroo silently smiles as he continues to watch Kenma play.

A few minutes before midday Kuroo hears the doorbell. Kenma has surely heard it too as he pauses and saves his game. 

Kenma makes his way down stairs, Kuroo's form shifts into it's feline shape as he trails behind Kenma. Kenma reaches the bottom of the stairs, he moves to continue walking forward but his feet stutter to a halt mid-stride; Kenma's pure anima reaches out beyond the door to sort of scout out who's there, he'd rather be completely sure it's who he thinks it is at the door. Kuroo watches in slight fascination as Kenma's anima is able to easily feel the familiar anima of his friends, Yaku and Lev, through the front door that's a few yards away.

Kuroo hasn't put much thought into the extent of Kenma's magical capabilities, but he now sees that there seems to be some hidden and untapped potential, considering he was able to pass his anima through a solid wall without the slightest sign of difficulty— now that he thinks about it, that’s probably how Kenma knew it was him when he first knocked on his door. Most wizards and witches can only do that after some practice, not terribly too much mind you, but an amount that's nothing to scoff at for sure; Kuroo files away that information for later.

Kenma walks over the rest of the way and opens the door to greet his friends. Before Kenma or Yaku can speak a word of greeting Lev— who Kenma specifically referred to as, “unnaturally tall,” when describing his friends to Kuroo an hour ago— immediately shouts out an enthusiastic greeting, “hey Kozume-san!” Making both Kenma and Yaku flinch, Yaku more so with a face of annoyance.

Yaku jabs Lev in the side with his elbow, “don't yell so loud, the whole neighborhood could practically hear you,” he scolds. 

Lev lightly rubs where Yaku hit, barely lowering the volume of his voice, “Sorry Yaku-san!” 

Yaku sighs and turns his head back to Kenma with a light smile. “Hey Kozume-kun.” 

“Hi guys,” Kenma greets as he steps aside so the two can come in.

Lev has to slightly tilt his head downwards as he walks in so as to not knock the top of his head against the door frame. It looks to be almost second nature to Lev so it's safe to assume he's accidentally knocked his head against them frame of the door plenty times.

Kuroo's eyes narrow a little as he assesses Yaku and Lev from a few feet behind Kenma. By looking at their anima Kuroo can tell that Yaku seems to have a more strengthened anima than Lev— though Kenma's anima is still stronger than the both of them.

The three of them stand together talking for a few moments before agreeing between the three of them to head up to Kenma's room to further catch up with each other. Yaku’s eyes land on Kuroo and almost seem to do a double take as he follows Lev and Kenma to ascend stairs. 

Kuroo stands to follow but his paws hesitate for a moment as he quickly debates on whether to follow them or not. It could be seen as rude to simply follow them and and just listen to their conversation when he hasn't even introduced himself to Kenma's friends.

Kuroo sinks his claws into the carpet beneath him without too much force as his tail swishes back and forth with a bit of annoyance, curse his still relatively new conscious.

Kuroo opts to instead head to the training room, where it seems Bokuto somehow managed to drag Tsukishima to come along with him and is probably forcing him to practice, much to Tsukishima’s annoyance. Akaashi sits on a bench, seemingly there just to watch Bokuto.

Kuroo shifts into his humanoid form with a mischievous glint in his eye. “Well look what the owl dragged in, a pair of glasses on a pole,” he teases Tsukishima with a grin.

“I bribed him with an extra slice of strawberry cake,” Bokuto explains proudly, a broad grin on his face as if that makes him incredibly cunning.

Tsukishima makes a “tch” noise, secretly highly disappointed in himself for giving in that easily.

“Care to join us?” Bokuto asks, wiggling his eyebrows with a grin.

“Oh yeah,” Tsukishima cuts in before Kuroo can speak, “show us that power that apparently had sent your attackers running in that story you told us when you first got here.” Tsukishima smirks, and Kuroo inwardly growls a little, of course Tsukishima could tell that Kuroo had been lying through his teeth when he told him. 

Kuroo hasn't really gotten much practice with his pyromancy techniques but that doesn't stop him from smirking confidently. “I’d be glad to join in on a little sparring session.” His eyes slide over to Tsukishima, “I'll be sure to give you some real good tips, Glasses-kun.” 

Bokuto first wants a spar with Kuroo though, just to see what he's made of— Kuroo is more than happy to oblige.

Bokuto and Kuroo both position themselves opposite of each other— both of them have a more physical fighting style that's enhanced by their magic. Kuroo pushes up his long sleeves before he wraps his hands in the flames that merely tingle as they emanate from his palms, “don't worry,” he begins teasing, “I've turned down the heat of my flames— don't wanna end up with roasted chicken when we're done here.” 

Bokuto’s own hands are engulfed with soft white orbs of light, only for the orbs to be quickly tainted with unfriendly looking deep purple colored veins. “Kitty can roar like a lion, but can it actually bite like one too?” throws back Bokuto.

Kuroo has never seen magic like that face to face but it looks familiar, he's heard of it; it's an ancient magic that stings when it touches you— which puts you at a disadvantage in the long run if you can't finish off the user quickly— and when it touches certain points on the body— pressure points, to be exact— it can paralyze the foe.

Bokuto grins back, ”don't worry, I turned down the toxicity levels just for you.”

Kuroo shifts his weight onto his left foot, ‘who knew he had a trick up his sleeve like ancient magic?’ Kuroo thinks to himself.

“Our handsome faces and chiseled jaws are off limits by the way, but everything else is game,” Kuroo chimes in at the last moment.

They're both still and quiet for a few seconds before Bokuto charges like a bull, Kuroo's a heartbeat later than he would like but he still manages to sidestep in time and whirls around to face Bokuto. Bokuto lunges again, his fist this time flying faster towards Kuroo's chest than he expected.

Kuroo's eyes widen he drops to the floor before the hit can land on him. He growls under his breath as he pops back up, ‘he's makin’ me play defense,’ he thinks to himself.

Kuroo jerks in the opposite direction as Bokuto throws another punch, though it's not where he originally planned; Bokuto’s fist manages to strike against the inside of Kuroo's arm. Kuroo quickly jerks his arm away because man those older demons were not kidding when they told him that that magic stings like a bitch.

Bokuto grins in satisfaction at finally landing a hit— even if it's not where he hoped for while Kuroo grits his teeth and finally makes a move of his own, he goes straight for the lower part of Bokuto's sternum.

Bokuto’s immediate impulse is to block, which results in Bokuto hissing out in pain when Kuroo's fiery fist hit his forearms.

Using the opportunity to his advantage, Kuroo quickly slides around Bokuto enough to land a strong swing with his left leg against the back of Bokuto's knee; immediately causing it to buckle.

Kuroo grins as now the spar is finally turning in his favor.

Now down on one knee and struggling to get back up Bokuto's back is completely exposed, Kuroo slams his left hand down against Bokuto's shoulder blades and he feels them flex inwards, Bokuto lets out a small groan of pain.

“They're really going at it aren't they?” sounds Kenma's voice from the benches.

Kuroo's head snaps up in surprise, looking at Kenma who's seated with his two friends, when did they get here? Turns out, that was a bad idea. In fact, very bad idea, because before Kuroo knows what hit him Bokuto uses his adrenaline to his advantage and whips around, landing a hard blow right below Kuroo's sternum. The air is sucked right out of his lungs as he lands on the hard floor, his chest stinging awfully and lungs burning.

Kuroo sucks in breaths desperately, trying to get the sweet oxygen he's suddenly been starved of; he's trying, he's really trying to get back up on his feet and start breathing somewhat normally again but damn if Bokuto isn't a strong puncher.

Bokuto's chuckling and is probably about to claim the win for himself any second now but Kuroo’ll be damned if he lets Bokuto make that much of a mockery of him.

With a sly grin on his face he quickly swipes his right leg out and knocks Bokuto off both of his feet; now they're both on the ground.

“I think it's safe to call it a draw,” Akaashi says, quite amused.

Both Kuroo and Bokuto huff in defeat before looking at each other, the magic draining away from their fingertips. 

Kuroo holds his usual smirk on his face, the hoarseness of his voice due to the blow to his sternum plus the sweat on his brow and the rest of his face betraying his demeanor. “How about we call it a truce, my dude?” Kuroo asks, outstretching his hand.

“For now,” Bokuto affirms with a grin as they shake on it.

“You two need some water?” Kenma asks.

“Sure!” Bokuto affirms as he gets up.

“I'll come with.” Akaashi stands to follow and Lev jumps at the chance to enthusiastically talk with Bokuto about his fighting skills; he'll no doubt raid Kuroo about it too later. 

Tsukishima somehow managed to sneak out undetected so for the moment this just leaves Kuroo to finish fully catching his breath as he tries to ignore the sharp eye of Yaku not so subtly staring him down. Kuroo just continues to look off in the opposite direction.

Yaku cuts through the silence. “You're the cat that was behind Kenma at the door, aren't you.” It's not a question.

Kuroo hums in confirmation anyways, the sweat on his skin beginning to cool.

“I knew I wasn't mistaken when I first saw you, you're not just a regular familiar based on your anima; so what are you?”

Kuroo looks at him with a lazy smirk. “You're more clever than you look, aren'tcha?” This seems to just rile up Yaku, as Kuroo can see his shoulders visibly tense from where he sits.

“What are you?” he says sternly with narrowed eyes, “tell me now, because I swear if you hurt anyone here—” Kuroo cuts Yaku off as he rises to his feet and approaches him, his face now serious.

“I’m not gonna tell you what I am, and if you don't think you can trust me because of that, fine by me. However, make no mistake,” Kuroo's voice gets more gentle than before as he sucks in a little air, “I'm nothing that would ever hurt Kenma— or anyone here. They've treated me so well— he's treated me so well. Too well. Better than I deserve,” Kuroo admits as his eyes look to the side. 

Yaku gives him a long look, though it's much less hostile than before. “Okay. Okay, I believe you,” he says quietly.

Kuroo sits down on the bench next to Yaku with a sigh. “Well thanks.” A few heartbeats of silence later and Yaku speaks again.

“Yaku Morisuke. We never got to formally meet, so, my name is Yaku Morisuke.”

“Kuroo Tetsurou. Pleasure to meet you, Yaku-san.” Kuroo gives him a small smile and Yaku gives him one in return.

Lev bursts through the door, immediately hurling himself towards Kuroo, sending out his barrage of questions about fighting and what it was like to fight Bokuto, effectively ruining the nice and calm moment; much to Yaku’s annoyance. 

Yaku makes his annoyance known when he smacks Lev’s shoulder, scolding him on how impolite it is to barge into a room yelling so loudly. Kenma passes Kuroo a cup of water and Kuroo thanks him before he downs it all within moments.

After Lev gives himself a formal introduction to Kuroo— not wanting Yaku to keep on pinching him— Kenma invites Kuroo to come play video games with them. Bokuto assures Kuroo that it's fine for him to go and so he joins the trio in their trek upstairs to Kenma’s room.

Lev suggests the four of them play Kirby Air Ride with excitement, green eyes shimmering; ah, poor, poor Lev, he never stood a chance against anyone in that game. Kuroo and Kenma are constantly battling for first place and Yaku is right on both of their tails, but poor Lev can barely even get his character to move without running into the wall every five seconds.

After eight rounds ultimately ending in a tie between Kuroo and Kenma, Kenma suggests they play Mario Kart, to which all three of his friends say a unanimous, “no way.” The three of them know the dangers and humiliation that comes alongside playing Mario Kart with Kenma all too well. Instead, they play Bomberman together, and Kuroo is absolutely bursting with pride when manages to get Kenma to laugh, it's not super loud or anything, but it certainly sounds cute.

Though Kuroo's body is a little sore from his sparring session with Bokuto, he pays no mind to it.

As midday darkens to evening both Lev and Yaku have to head home. Lev steps out of the house still waving goodbye and of course accidentally knocks the top of his head against the door frame, making Kuroo and Kenma snort in amusement while Yaku scolds him about paying attention to his surroundings as they leave.

After dinner Kuroo spends the rest of the night helping out around the house.

 

A week later Kenma's carrying out his usual nightly routine of putting on his oversized pajamas, scrubbing his face, and brushing his teeth in the bathroom while Kuroo dozes off in his familiar form at the foot of Kenma's bed, except, Kuroo seems to be wide awake tonight, as he has recently been this week.

Kenma knows Kuroo won't admit it but he knows that Kuroo's been having nightmares, he just doesn't know why. 

He's tried everything from simply asking Kuroo how he slept the night before to straight up confronting Kuroo saying that he knows the Kuroo's been having nightmares, but no matter what Kenma tries Kuroo still keeps a his lips shut tight and tries to change the subject. And every time, Kenma lets him.

Akaashi tells him that Kuroo will tell him when he's ready. But when will he be ready? Because Kenma can't help Kuroo if he refuses to even admit there's a problem in the first place. He doesn't like seeing Kuroo tired in the mornings because of a bad sleep and wide awake at night because he doesn't want to go to sleep for fear of what he'll see as he sleeps.

Kenma sighs as he steps out of the bathroom and heads towards his bed, for now he guesses he'll just have to wait for Kuroo to talk about it to him; whenever that may be.

Kenma turns off the lights with a wave of his hand as usual and gets comfy in the warm sheets. “Goodnight Kuroo,” he speaks into the darkness of the room. A cat’s meow is his response.

 

Smoke, curling through the air, it's ashy tendrils festering with toxicity ready to poison the lungs of the innocent in a moment's notice.

Kuroo hadn't had this dream in nearly 300 years.

Yet, here it is again for the sixth time this week, back to haunt him.

He's 19 again, returning from a midnight walk through the forest when he sees a haunting orange glow emanating from the village ahead and smells the faint foul scent of smoke. Immediately panic and dread swallow him whole. He's running towards the village as fast as he possibly can, feet tripping up over large roots and deep blue colored yukata snagging on low hanging branches.

He doesn't bother to notice how he gets to the village much quicker than he should've.

It's doesn't matter to him, because his fears are true, the village is burning. 

The intense heat emanating from the fires all around him, hissing and spitting in their orange and yellow shades, make Kuroo want to throw up. He wastes no more time and bullies his paralyzed legs into motion, bolting towards his own home, the screams of frightening lovers and crying children all around him. And just barely audible, a hissing voice is heard, “it's your fault.”

Anxiety swells in his throat.

And as Kuroo sees the crackling flames licking hungrily at the wood of his own home he really feels like he's gonna throw up.

Oh god. What about his mother? What about his little sister? Again, the accusing voice hisses within his ear, a little louder than before, “all your fault.”

Kuroo's charging into his burning home before he realizes what's happening. His nose is immediately hit with the thick acrid smell of smoke but he braves on, he first sees his mother's room, through watering eyes he can see that it's been completely consumed in the inferno, no way anyone in there is alive.

Bile, warm and putrid rises up his throat, this time, Kuroo hunches over and throws up.

Heart pounding wildly, lungs burning, eyes too dry for comfort, and mouth tasting bitter and acidic, he heaves himself back up, unseeable shadows giving him accusing stares. “You could've saved her, your precious mother,” they hiss.

Kuroo's breathing devolves in a coughing fit as the putrid smoke circles through his lungs, but he still runs, desperate to see his sister alive. 

‘She's so young… please,’ He desperately prays in his head to any deity willing to listen.

Kuroo lets out a choked noise of relief when he sees his sister alive and sitting on the ground, letting out strong coughs.

Kuroo sprints to her and picks her up with ease, she clings onto him for dear life, her face buried in his now dirty yukata, now stained with soot and ashes.

Kuroo whirls around to escape but the noise of something snapping is the only warning he gets as a part of the room caves in; they're trapped.

Kuroo doesn't know what to do, there's no way out of the burning room now. And the roof above their heads is creaking and groaning, it's gonna collapse any second now.

The accusing shadows previously kept to the corner of his eyes are now circling him. “She's so young,” they whisper, “she was gonna turn six in two days,” they feint pitious voices, “she's going to die and it's all. Your. Fault,” they hiss out, progressively getting louder as they chant, “all your fault. All your fault. All your fault.”

Kuroo lays his sister on the ground with her back to him, instructing her to tuck her knees in and hold her hands over the back of her head through feverish coughs and stinging eyes.

Then, Kuroo gets into the same position, huddling over her and using his back as a shield. 

The roof is creaking and groaning loudly, it's gonna give out any second now, the chanting of the incriminating shadows is now deafening.

Kuroo's heart is pounding wildly but he still tries to sooth the crying of his little sister, and as he hears the final resistance of the roof giving up and the crashing above him sounds loudly, he wrenches his eyes closed and steels himself.

 

When Kenma wakes up he's very frightened, but even more than that, he feels a terrible loss within his chest, and he's crying.

Kuroo is hardly aware of his surroundings as somebody shakes him, making him arise to consciousness, his disgruntled and drowsy feline eyes have trouble adjusting to the darkness of the room at first. Kuroo's sure it's no earlier than 3am at this point. 

However, as soon as Kuroo hears the broken sobs of a bleary eyed Kenma trying to call out his name he immediately jerks himself awake.

Kuroo shifts into his humanoid form, panicked and slightly jumbled words flow out from his mouth, the waning moon being the only source of light. “K-kemna? H— w-what happened? A-are you alright!?” he asks with urgency.

Kenma just grabs the fabric of Kuroo's loose black sweater and bunches it in between his fingers as he buries his head in Kuroo's chest.

Kuroo blinks twice in surprise before tentatively wrapping his arms around Kenma's smaller body. 

Kenma's sobbing slowly winds down to gentle hiccups as he breathes in the scent of Kuroo’s sweater; a scent that he didn't realize until now is actually quite comforting. Kenma's heartbeat quickens.

Kuroo rests his chin on top of Kenma's head, he certainly doesn't mind hugging, the warm feeling in his chest is actually a wonderful contrast to the despair and guilt that had been swallowing him whole during the nightmare.

Kenma's muffled voice sounds, “Kuroo?”

“Yeah?”

There's silence for a few heartbeats, like Kenma's debating at the last minute if he should say what he has in mind. “…can you promise me something?”

Kuroo's reply is instant, “yeah, of course.”

“…c-can you promise me you won't leave me?”

It's quite a sudden thing to ask, but Kuroo doesn't care, it's the least he can do for someone who's treated him so much better than he deserves. “I won't leave, I promise.”

Kuroo closes his eyes and sits still for a few more precious seconds before he gently pulls away, just enough to look Kenma in the eyes, his hands are still resting on Kenma's back. “What was that? Why were you crying?”

It is literally impossible for it to have being a nightmare that brought Kenma into the frightened and bleary eyed state, the presence of a pyromancer— aka Kuroo— prevents any nightmares from surfacing— unfortunately it doesn't affect the aforementioned pyromancer, much to Kuroo's dismay.

Kenma's eyes trail off to the side, “I'm not sure, I don't know if I want to be sure anyways. It was all happening so fast that I could hardly see any of it, just bits and pieces, a-a cloudy sky with the wind whipping wildly around me one moment a-and two guys I have never seen before in the middle of the forest next. Falling asleep in a library like I haven't slept in a week a-and…” Kenma's voice gets much softer, “you, you leaving in the dead of night with some stranger without so much as a goodbye….” His grip on Kuroo's sweater tightens.

Kuroo holds Kenma close once again. “That won't happen, I promise.” Kenma's pulse grows quick again.

Kuroo used to think humans were weak because all they could ever do was live in fear. Just sit together in circles and cover their eyes as they described the monsters that were plaguing their lives like that would make it any less terrifying or real.

Kuroo used to be one of those things that would make people join circles as they trembled in fear, remembering the demon with the wild hair and the sly, twisted smile.

Now? Now Kuroo's also scared of the demon with the wild hair and the sly twisted smile, because that's not him.

Now, Kuroo's also willing to sit in the circle and describe the monsters that plague his life. He doesn't want to or feels like he's ready to talk about the monster with the wild hair and the sly twisted smile yet, but baby steps, right?

“I was having a shitty sleep too,” Kuroo finally confesses. Kenma pulls away from the hug enough to look at Kuroo. “I was having a nightmare of a long ass time ago, almost 300 years ago; because before everything else, I used to be human. I-I used to have a family, a loyal father who went off to war, a mother with calloused hands, soft black hair, and even softer eyes, a-a sis—” Kuroo's voice cracks a little, nearly 300 years of buried emotions are finally surfacing. Kuroo takes a deep breath before continuing, “a sister who was five. Five. Oh god s-she was only five—” 

Kenma places his hands on either side of Kuroo face, effectively stopping Kuroo from no doubt spiraling into a rant of self hate. “And what happened to them?” Kenma asks lightly, staring into Kuroo's eyes with his own golden pair; his voice surprisingly steady.

“My father was called to go to war and refused to let me go take his place, and I was young and stupid and got unnecessarily upset. A month after he was gone I was still stupid and upset so I took a walk in the middle of the night… and when I got back… everything was burning. I-it was too late for my mother, h-her room was completely engulfed with the flames when I got there,” Kuroo's voice wavers, “I-I found my sister alive, b-but the room collapsed and we were trapped. The roof caved in and fell on us. I survived, she didn't.” Kuroo leaves out the part where he died from smoke inhalation two days later, mind full of hate, regret, and anger. 

Demons are either born or created. You have a gathering of strong negative emotions and a demon is created. You have that gathering of strong negative emotions confined to the body of one person, and when they die a demon is born. “It was all my fault. If only I had been a little quicker, if only I had been there from the start, if only I hadn't—” Kenma cuts Kuroo off.

“It wasn't your fault, Kuroo,” Kenma says, quietly but with emotion. Whatever self deprecating thing Kuroo was gonna say next dies on his tongue, “you couldn't have known, how could you?”

“But I wasn't there, I should've been there,” Kuroo insists.

“You can't blame yourself forever, Kuroo. It's already been two centuries, you have to forgive yourself.”

“…I know.” He's not ready to forgive himself just yet, but he's going to stop constantly blaming himself, for Kenma.

Kenma's eyes look at the clock and jump to the waning moon, now noticeably higher in the sky than before, it's late. “We should go to sleep,” Kenma says, finally letting his hands fall from Kuroo's face and to his sides.

“Yeah.”

Kenma crawls back over to the front of his sheets and slides in, he speaks before Kuroo can shift into his familiar form, “Kuroo?”

Kuroo lets out a questioning hum.

“Can you sleep up here tonight?” Kenma asks tentatively.

“Yeah Kenma, of course,” Kuroo mumbles out, finally letting a week worth of missing sleep catch up with him as he shuffles up to where Kenma is.

Kenma can feel the bed dip with Kuroo's weight as Kuroo gets under the covers.

It's only once Kuroo wraps his arm around Kenma and his heartbeat quickens again for the third time that night that Kenma realizes there must be something wrong with his heart, because his pulse shouldn't be spiking every time Kuroo Tetsurou, his friend, hugs him.

Not like Kenma minds the hugging. He doesn't, at all. It's welcomed, in fact.

Kenma falls asleep in the warm arms of Kuroo, and neither of them have a single dismaying thought float through their sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel strangely unsatisfied with this chapter despite actually liking several parts of it?? It's strange, but whatever. This update is two weeks late so expect another update this week if I have time.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm terribly sorry for the late chapter T-T this chapter is also pretty short too; this week, I actually will double publish! And if I don't someone needs to punish me.

That next morning was somewhat awkward, as when Kuroo and Kenma woke up they were full on snuggling. 

“S-sorry,” Kenma apologized as they untangled their limbs.

“I-it's fine,” Kuroo stuttered out. 

The next night though, Kuroo slept underneath the covers next to Kenma again, and Kenma held no protest. 

It quickly became a habit, of course, there were still many days where Akaashi would be in charge of warding off nightmares for the night.

Fast forward less than a week later and the living room is filled with its usual morning chatter amongst the house's occupants when Hinata charges into the house, returning from running the simple errand of buying a few things from the grocery store; he's practically vibrating from excitement.

Hinata runs up to Bokuto and Kuroo not being able to contain himself, "B-Bokuto-san, Kuroo-san! There's a carnival in town! I heard people talking about it while I was doing the errands! We have to go!" he shouts out enthusiastically. 

"Are you sure we'll be allowed to? Like― we all have chores to do, so I dunno if that’ll be allowed," Kuroo says.

"Er well, now that I think about it, I'm not sure if we’ll be allowed… but you gotta convince Kenma-san and Akaashi-san to let us go!" begs Hinata, like a child.

Before Bokuto and Kuroo can agree to somehow getting Akaashi and Kenma to give them a day off, Suga takes care of it for them.

“That sounds like a great idea, Hinata. Kenma’s barely gone outside all summer, this would be a great opportunity for him to finally get some sun! I’m sure Akaashi would agree.” Suga smiles.

As it turns out, Akaashi does agree. At first Kenma refuses to go, “I’d rather be inside my own home where I’m safe and around people I can trust; rather than outside in a crowded area with strangers,” he claims. However, with Akaashi on Suga’s side, two motherly figures are more persuasive than one― plus with the added help of Kuroo and Hinata― they manage to get Kenma to drag himself away from his computer.

Kenma rolls up the long cream colored sleeves of his thin shirt past his elbows as he makes his way down the stairs, Kuroo, Bokuto, Akaashi, Hinata, Kageyama, and Yachi all waiting for him. As he joins them Akaashi looks over one more time to Suga and the six other familiars who wanted to stay behind, “are you sure you’ll all be fine without us?”

Suga nods chirpily. “Don’t worry; we’ve got it covered.” With that, the party of seven make their way to the carnival, Hinata and Kageyama speeding ahead while Yachi struggles to catch up to the two of them as she calls out, “s-slow down, y-you might fall!”

Kenma sees Kuroo leans towards Bokuto. “How much you wanna bet Chibi-chan’s gonna trip within the next 15 seconds?” he snickers.

As if on cue, Hinata’s foot catches against a rock; his toes teeter back and forth as he struggles to balance himself, but it’s in vain, as Kageyama isn’t paying attention to what's in front of him whatsoever and runs straight into Hinata. Kenma finches as he looks up from his phone just in time to see the both of them fall with a loud thump.

Yachi lets out a squeak of panic as she runs up to them to see if they're okay, but of course, Hinata and Kageyama are both fine and pop back up and onto their feet like nothing happened.

Bokuto pats Hinata and Kageyama on the back with too much force as he, Kuroo, Kenma, and Akaashi catch up to the three younger familiars. “Nice job taking the fall like some real champs,” he commends.

Once at the carnival the three young familiars break off into their own group, the plan is that everyone will regroup in five hours to watch the circus show.

Kenma and his group start walking to the first attraction Bokuto spots; which is a stand where if you can knock down the cups you won a prize. The prizes, of course, feature a large owl plushie. The stand is warded with charms to prevent anyone from cheating.

Just as Kenma pulls out his phone to entertain himself while Bokuto gets ready to throw the ball, Kuroo snatches the phone out of his hand and holds it above his head. “Tsk tsk tsk, Kenma. We came here to have a fun time; just stay off your phone for a few minutes and you'll see.” Kuroo slides Kenma's phone into the pocket of his navy blue jeans.

Kenma frowns. “If someone barfs on me because they were on a rollercoaster it'll be all your fault.”

“Oh come on,” Kuroo snickers, “ don't you trust me?” He blinks down innocently at Kenma's unimpressed face. 

Kenma's reply gets drowned out by Bokuto's whoop of victory. 

Kenma turns his head to Bokuto and sees Bokuto giving Akaashi the owl plushie he won, Bokuto looks very pleased with himself and Akaashi's own face holds a smile. Kuroo's eyes, however, are on something else a little off in the distance.

Kuroo's eyes hold a mischievous glint that raise Kenma with suspicion. “I know exactly where we should go next,” Kuroo grins.

Kuroo leads the way as he weaves through other people, giving Kenma and the others no time to question him. “Here we are,” Kuroo says as Kenma lays his eyes the attraction; it's a magic roller coaster, one with no tracks.

“No way,” Kenma and Akaashi both refuse in unison.

 

That being said, Kenma truly doesn't know how the four of them ended up on a magic roller coaster free falling from the clouds. Kenma is sure of one thing though; Kuroo will pay for dragging him into this one way or another. Kenma looks over to Akaashi, who doesn't seem to be having a blast either, but Bokuto— and of course Kuroo— are both ecstatic.

The roller coaster suddenly jerks to the right and dances through green rings of fire before lurching downward again, still so high up that the entire carnival only looks as big as Kenma's hand.

By the time the ride is over and Kenma and the others are at last safely on the ground once again Kenma's wind whipped hair is a disaster— which is to be expected after riding such a crazy thing— what's funny though is that even though Akaashi and Kuroo's hair both met with the same treatment, Bokuto's hair seems almost completely unchanged.

After their appearances are fixed so it doesn't look like they had been swept up by a tornado Akaashi suggests a ride; the flying tea cups— they're like spinning tea cups except less spinning and more gentle flying that you can direct around for a set amount of time.

After a cheerful Dryad who works for the carnival explains the simple navigation controls they're off; Kenma finds it's quite nice being able to gently glide around the air as opposed to uncontrollably rocketing through the air.

“This is boring,” Kuroo complains as he rests his chin the edge of the large tea cup, eyes downcast towards the carnival below.

“Right, how could I forget, it's only fun if it feels like you're speeding towards your death,” Kenma sarcastically quips.

“What can I say, I'm a daredevil,” Kuroo says with fake resignation while Bokuto dangles half his body out of the cup.

“Bokuto, it's best to stop hanging out of the cup,” Akaashi advises.

Next they head to a darkly lit tent where they sit down along with others while hidden shadow puppeteers use magic to tell a fantastical tale of old, the tragedy of a demon king and his loyal knight who betrayed him.

The shadows flicker and literally jump from one wall to the next, bringing the story they tell to life as a speaker nowhere to be found narrates from all sides of the tent.

 

Several carnival attractions of varying intensities later, Kenma and his group are re-joining with Hinata, Kageyama, and Yachi in front of the large multicolored circus tent set in the center of the carnival.

Yachi looks as if her soul has been sucked from her body; there's no doubt that Hinata and Kageyama somehow goaded Yachi onto some extreme ride, a decision which Yachi proceeded to regret immediately.

After waiting a few minutes for Yachi to revitalize herself, the entire group enters the tent, there are already a good bit of human and humanoid creatures sitting so they take their own seats.

The rest of the seats in the circus fill up rather quickly and soon the lights begin to dim and the chatter dies out as the show gets ready to begin. Before the lights can dim down all the way Kenma's eyes spot a man down the aisle of seats who's strangely recognizable, but at the same time also unfamiliar. Kenma's brows furrow and the man catches him staring, and though Kenma's eyes flicker away for only a few moments the man is completely gone when his eyes return, and it's not long before the tent is too dark for Kenma to try and scan the crowd in hopes of finding him.

Who was that man, and why was he strangely familiar? Perhaps it was just Kenma's mind playing tricks on him? He doesn't have much time to ponder the subject further because three bright spotlights turn on before centering themselves on stage.

A royal blue colored smoke swirls onto the stage and a woman wearing a featureless black mask and a navy blue yukata steps forth from the smoke; the show has begun.


	8. Chapter 8

The woman bows to the audience, the mask over her face unyielding and betraying none of her emotions to onlookers. Two girls identically dressed in plum purple yukatas and featureless royal blue masks jump out from behind either side of the original woman and begin leaping around the stage, mirroring each other as they leap and lightly jump off the walls of the tent, leaving shimmering trails of ice behind them. Low murmurs of interest can be heard in the crowd.

The two girls stop and stand side by side in the middle of the stage, the woman in the navy blue yukata seems to have disappeared. 

They both stand still for a moment before a man with slicked back blonde hair and brown shaved sides leaps out from behind them, jumping clear over them. As he lands he cups his hands over his mouth, making a funnel shape before blowing fire straight into the crowd. Some people scream at first, however, those screams quickly turn into cheers and applause when everyone in the audience quickly realizes that the energetic flames before them do not hurt.

Both Hinata and Yachi make a noise of amazement while Bokuto eagerly waves his hands through the fire with more excitement than would be typically expected and Akaashi stares down at a small portion of the fire that he caught in his hand almost with a look of disbelief— which is strange to Kenma, why would Akaashi be surprised by a trick like this one?

As soon as Bokuto stretched his hand out and touched the flames being fanned out towards the crowd a jolt of recognition was sent through him. Bokuto could never forget the feeling of that flame, it's him, isn't it? Bokuto grins as he waves his hands energetically through the fire; it's been far too long since they've seen each other.

Akaashi stares down at the flame in his palm, it feels so familiar, could it really be him? Akaashi looks back up at the man blowing the harmless yet energetic feeling fire over the crowd; it sure looks like him— well— minus the hair dye. Akaashi looks at his anima; it's pure white. If that truly is him then after all this time his anima would no longer hold that speck of darkness it once had.

Kenma reaches his hand out toward the flames with only slight caution, and when Kenma tries to scoop some up like Akaashi did it slips right through his fingers— which is to be expected.

Kuroo snickers as he scoops up a blob of the fire in his two hands and places it on top of Kenma's head. Kenma looks at Kuroo and shrugs. “Whatever,” he says before turning his head back to look at the show— still balancing the harmless fire on top of his head, of course. Kuroo snorts with amusement before scooping more fire and leaning forward so he can throw it at Hinata who's further down the aisle.

As the show continues onward Kenma notices Bokuto whispering something excitedly into Akaashi's ear, he doesn't think much of it as his eyes turn back to the performers.

“It's him!” Bokuto whispers excitedly into Akaashi’s ear, “I can tell it's Yuuji, for sure!”

“Are you positive?” Akaashi asks in a hushed voice. Bokuto nods his head in confirmation with total confidence. Akaashi smiles, “in that case, it'll be nice to see our old friend of ours after all this time.”

“Should I reach out to his anima? You know— let ‘em know we're here?” quietly asks Bokuto.

Akaashi nods his head in confirmation.

As a man transforms small plumes of fire created by the pyromancer with the dyed blonde hair into glowing blue will-o-wisps, Kenma notices the woman from the beginning of the show at the very back corner of the stage just standing there unnoticed by onlookers.

The pyromancer on stage seems to have suddenly gotten distracted, his eyes are now scanning through the crowd, searching for someone as he tries to also maintain focus on his act.

The fire that had been sitting on Kenma's head slides off, to Kuroo's disappointment.

Kenma and Kuroo don't know it, but all it took was a slight brush against Bokuto’s anima for Yuuji’s eyes to shoot towards the crowd in search of someone he hasn't seen in a long time.

Kenma's eyes look over to the lady again, now the two identical girls from the beginning are standing with her as well. His eyes widen as the lady starts coughing, but it's more than just coughing, she's hunched over, hacking and wheezing as black smoke trickles out of her mouth; this is definitely not part of the act.

The black smoke trickling out her mouth pools and swirls around her feet, Kenma is frozen solid; he recognizes that smoke. Because that's not just smoke, that's the form monstrous creatures of chaos and death take when they want to slip into the unsuspecting homes of the innocent to kill them.

Why kill them? Because it's fun to demons.

How did Kenma's loving grandma die? Because a demon was feeling bored and he was too young to stop it. Kenma doesn't think it's his fault she died, but it was a traumatic experience, the memory of his grandmother falling to the ground from exhaustion still makes his throat tighten past uncomfortable levels.

Kenma begins thinking to himself, ‘there are demons here now, and there are people here too. We need to escape, if nothing is done they're all gonna die, I d—’ his thoughts are cut off.

“Kenma!” Kenma is jolted from his thoughts that were beginning to spiral towards panic by Kuroo. “Kenma, we have to get out of here now before it's too late.” Kuroo looks dead serious, but it's too late to escape anyway.

A child screams as the demons fly into the air and begin swirling around and over their prey.

The exits are already being blocked by demons and frightened people are calling the Association of Demon Hunters for professional help, until they arrive though, Kenma, Kuroo, Bokuto, Akaashi, and the three younger familiars are just going to have to wait and stay alive.

The demons begin taking solid forms, shaping themselves into humans with crooked smiles that seem ill fitting on their faces as they try to attack both humans and humanoid creatures alike, some are leaving their lower halves as black smokey trails, which allow them to continue swirling around in the air.

Kenma and the others duck down and hide behind the chairs in front of them, “Other magic users have already started trying to fight them off,” starts Akaashi, speaking quickly and only loud enough for his friends and partner to hear him above the commotion, “and it seems like that's our best chance right now.”

“B-but I don't know many purification spells,” Kenma begins, “the ones that I have been taught are too long and wordy and difficult to cast, I haven't even gotten around to trying any of them—” Kuroo cuts him off by placing a hand on either of his shoulders.

“Kenma, relax. We've got you, I doubt Chibi-chan and his friends know any purification spells— heck— I don't even know any purification spells, and that's okay. You don't have to be a master at purification spells. I'll watch your back while you try to perform your spells, alright?” Kuroo asks. Kenma hugs Kuroo from his sitting position and takes a deep breath before letting go.

“Thank you, Kuroo.” Kenma turns to Bokuto and the others, as well as Akaashi, who seems to have a small knowing smile, “alright, let's do this.”

All seven of them spring up, and immediately demons turn their heads towards these newly found targets.

Hinata, Kageyama, and Yachi group together and stand back to back, Bokuto leaves Akaashi to purifying demons and covers for him, Kuroo and Kenma do the same.

Even the simplest of purification spells are complicated and difficult to master, considering Kenma's inexperience, he's doing great. Kuroo stands close to Kenma and on guard, launching flames and spitting fire at any demons who try to get in closer— which unfortunately seem to be a lot.

Kenma's eyes are screwed shut in focus as he casts the spell, “pabsta bil bei mato eap bil ot tharos, c-chaos bil tee b-bim u,“ the hair on the back of Kenma’s neck stands on end, he stutters as he senses a demon quickly approaching, but he trusts Kuroo.

Kuroo whirls around to face the demon charging towards Kenma, he growls as he sends a high aimed fire powered kick the demon’s way, the demon moves to the side in time and instead grabs Kuroo's leg, twisting it harshly before slamming him to the ground. Kuroo groans out in pain but immediately swipes his foe’s legs out from underneath it with his own legs. Using the moment to his advantage, Kuroo pins the demon to the ground, his nails harshly digging into the demon’s wrists as Kuroo's own flames spread to his foe’s body. Kuroo's foe struggles to break out of his grasp, violently wailing out in pain and trying to jerk it's hands free as the flames gladly lick at it's ill fitting flesh.

Kuroo steps back from the demon and continues covering for Kenma, the effects of his flames won't kill the demon— only purification can do that— but it will keep the demon preoccupied and harmless for awhile.

“Utei mich usev mahn thay moh tharos te monas matem atul u lanthas,” with the spell finally ready Kenma opens his eyes. He raises his right hand, which is emanating a soft white glow, and points to a demon that's coming a little too close, “cen,” that's all it takes for the demon to start howling in agony before crumbling into an ashy colored powder as the white glow previously encasing Kenma's hand transfers over to the demon.

Kuroo notices Akaashi is doing some pretty fancy techniques from the corner of his eye; Akaashi’s flames, usually red, yellow, and calm are now pure white, “no way they are,” Kuroo mumbles to himself as he chucks a fireball at a demon. However, his suspicions are confirmed to be true as Akaashi calmly blows his white fire from his mouth, with properties of the wind, the fire passes over two demons who immediately scream in agony as they crumble onto an ashy colored powder. 

No doubt about it; those white flames are purity flames. “He better teach me how to do that after this.” Kuroo grumbles out, jealous of Akaashi who possesses such a rare ability.

The three youngest familiars aren't faring so bad either, Yachi coos out a few words and uses her plant magic to sprout great spiny vines that throw demons across the tent, Kageyama sends droves of pointed rocks to enemies like hail storms with loud commands and his earthen magic and Hinata, who with the quick an energetic saying of a few words and a snap of his fingers, is creating fireballs that speed towards foes.

Hinata, however, is not a pyromancer. What he is doing is different than what Akaashi and Kuroo are doing, Hinata is heating the air next to his chosen target so much that is catches on fire, he’s not producing it from his body like how Kuroo and Akaashi are. Hinata has seasonal magic; right now in the summertime he uses his magic related to heat with the aid of the sun, however if Hinata were to be fighting in the winter, then pointed icicles would be his weapons of choice.

Meanwhile, Bokuto continues to cover for Akaashi, spitting venom that does more that just irritate the skin at demons trying to get close. Two especially agile demons get close to Bokuto and begin ganging up on him, all Bokuto can do at the moment is avoid hits.

Finally the perfect moment strikes and Bokuto grins as he catches the punch of one of the demons, he twists the wrist hard as he throws the demon to the ground. Bokuto then quickly touching the demon’s pressure point with his venomous magic, the demon won't be getting back up for a good while. Bokuto's head whips back up to face the other demon, expecting it to be right upon him. However, someone from behind the demon sends a fire powered swipe of their leg straight into the demon's head. “Well what do ya know,” grins the guy responsible for the kick, grinding the heel of his shoe into the demon's face, “it's my old buddy Bokuto. Still need me to come to your rescue after all this time I see,” he snickers. 

No doubt about it, that's Bokuto and Akaashi's old friend, Terushima Yuuji. “I had it completely handled,” says Bokuto as he gives Yuuji a bone breaking hug.

“Sure sure,” says Yuuji, not convinced at all as the air gets squeezed from his lungs.

Their reunion gets interrupted though as professional exorcists finally get in the circus tent. With all the much needed extra back up, the large amount of remaining demons quickly dwindles. The remaining demons quickly flee and soon ambulances are on the scene, thanks to the magic users that were already there no one died, a few were injured heavily but the injuries are nothing they can't come back from.

The ambulances leave, leaving just people looking for items lost in the commotion and others who are just loitering around. Akaashi then explains to Kenma and the others that him and Bokuto want to catch up real quickly with an old friend of theirs and to wait outside for them so Kenma and the others go ahead and wait outside the tent for Bokuto and Akaashi.

“It's good to see you, Yuuji,” smiles Akaashi.

“It's definitely nice to see you both still together and alive and kicking,” Yuuji chuckles, “and just look at your anima, Akaashi, all bright white and pure.” 

Akaashi laughs at that, “the same to you. So, how did your travels lead you to joining the circus anyways?”

“Ah you know, whenever I need some money I usually go for the odd jobs, and you know, after we parted when I had finished helping you both all those years ago, I told you I would go to the mountains, but yet even after all these centuries I never got around to going.” Yuuji laughs.

“Ya know, one time when we had been sitting around the campfire you said you always had wondered what you would look like as a blonde,” snickers Bokuto, “nice to see that you went for it now that dyeing your hair is a thing.”

“Oh yeah, because that crazy thing you've got going on with your hair is 100% natural. It's not like you probably used an entire bottle of hair to mold that this morning,” snorts Yuuji.

“If I'm not mistaken,” Akaashi cuts in, “you have a tongue piercing now, don't you? Ever the reckless and intimidating bad boy I see.” Akaashi smirks and Bokuto lets out a laugh. Before Yuuji can try to defend himself Akaashi continues, “Ah, and Bokuto only uses half a bottle of hair gel every morning.” Yuuji snorts as he tries to hold back laughter.

“Wh— Akaashi!! I do not use half a thing of hair gel!” indignantly shouts Bokuto.

A bit more bantering and catching up later and the three of them start to wrap things up.

“So, where will you travel to now?” Akaashi asks.

“I dunno, maybe this time I actually will go to the mountains,” muses Yuuji with a smile.

“Well, it's not the late 1400s anymore, so this time, keep in touch, yeah?” asks Akaashi as he and Bokuto hold up their phones.

Yuuji laughs as he pulls out his own phone, “you got it.”

They say their goodbyes and Bokuto and Akaashi join Kuroo and the others outside the circus tent so they can make their way home. Shortly after they depart, Hinata gets a frantic call from Suga who saw news of the demon attack on TV. 

After everyone confirms that they are alive and well to Suga, Suga finally starts breathing again and lets them know that he has snacks prepared for them for when they get home. The trio of young familiars speed ahead a little farther down the road, leaving Kuroo, Kenma, Bokuto, and Akaashi as a group of four again, just as when they first had departed for the amusement park.

Kenma tries to get Kuroo's attention, “Kuroo?” Kuroo lets out a hum of questioning, “when we were fighting together, you were conjuring fire from within yourself with ease, you never even spoke a single magical phrase out loud; what I'm saying is that I want to do that too, can you teach me how to use magic without having to say the spell out loud?”

Kuroo smiles, “sure, it's not easy, but I know you'll manage.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually really like how this chapter turned out, I feel satisfied with it. It's probably bc I'm on spring break rn so I'm not scrambling to get it done before the weekend for once. My entire break only lasts this week, which sucks so I'll be heading back to school next week, rip me.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back after a two month hiatus~ I hope all my readers haven't left me bc I disappeared suddenly ;-;
> 
> As a compensation for making all my readers wait so long, this chapter is 7k words, the longest one yet!

Unspoken, it's become an unspoken rule between Kuroo and Kenma to not discuss or mention the fact that almost every day they wake up next to each other, a lot of the times cuddling; Kuroo will wordlessly roll out from under Kenma's bed sheets and pop a few joints in his neck and back before telling Kenma good morning and padding out of the room to take a shower, all the while Kenma will desperately avoid direct eye contact. From there Kenma is supposed to get out of his own bed and get ready to start the day. 

They started doing this shortly after the habit of falling asleep next to each other started almost a month ago, it helps minimize awkwardness, in a way, but they've never actually had a conversation even remotely connected to their cuddling habits after the first time it happened.

Currently, though, Kenma is having a mini heart attack; mostly because the orange light of the morning sun accidentally woke him earlier than he usually does, and he’s paid the price; Kuroo is already awake and is just holding him in his arms, unaware that he too is awake. ‘thank any deity out there that Kuroo can't really see my face,’ thinks Kenma to himself. If Kuroo could see his face it would be a dead giveaway, what with the blush all over his face and such.

Kenma has to force himself to not choke on his own saliva as Kuroo shifts onto his side and brings Kenma closer so that he's curled into Kuroo's warm chest, he smells of nutmeg and warm cotton.

It's one thing to wake up in this position and chalk it up to two bodies seeking warmth in the middle of the night, but it's another thing to experience Kuroo purposefully do it. Kenma doesn't know if he can keep this up— too much more of this and he's is gonna short circuit soon.

“G’morning,” mumbles Kuroo, making Kenma freeze, not even moving to breathe. It seems that Kuroo is still pretty groggy as his movements and words are sluggish, but not groggy enough though, because it's clear he knows Kenma is awake.

“M-morning, Kuroo,” greets Kenma, his voice somewhat muffled due to his mouth being so close to Kuroo's chest. Kuroo kinda seems out of it, like he's not entirely aware that he's snuggling with Kenma. Kenma hasn't outrightly invited Kuroo to come into his personal space since that night that he had what he has to call, a ‘nightmare’, but that doesn't mean that Kenma objects to any of this at all. 

Kenma wonders to himself as well, why doesn't he object? It feels like Kenma's always reaching up, trying to grab an enticing, ripe, piece of fruit from a rather low hanging branch constantly swaying in the breeze, it feels like he's so close, and just when the breeze finally stills and he can smell the sweetness of the fruit above him, he bends his knees, preparing to jump, but he always stutters and he wavers once he hears the genuine laughter of Kuroo in the back of his mind. The fruit holds an answer, and Kenma’s not even sure what the question it's answering is. He doesn't know what that answer will mean, so he just eyes that delectable piece of fruit until the breeze picks up once more and the window of opportunity is gone. Then Kenma realizes once more that he does want the fruit, but when the breeze stills and a sweet scent drifts down and all around him the cycle just repeats again.

“I don't wanna get up today,” mumbles Kuroo, his speech understandable enough, his still sleepy eyes trained on the wall as his head continues to rest against the pillow.

“Wh— what? But it's gonna be time to get up soon, there's no way Akaashi or Suga-san will allow me to sleep in for more than two minutes,” says Kenma, going against his better judgment and pulling himself back so he can properly look at Kuroo, his cheeks flaring again. Turns out Kenma should've never done that, because Kuroo looks much more handsome than should be allowed when it's this early, and Kenma’s mind needs to shut up right this second before his mouth says something stupid.

“Ah c’mon, please? Just 15 minutes,” asks Kuroo, looking up at Kenma, his lower lip doing an almost undetectable pout. 

This then proceeds to kill Kenma. He just had to go and look down at Kuroo, he just had to break part of their unspoken rule, didn't he? How can Kenma say no to Kuroo now? Simple, he can't, “f-fine fine, you can sleep a little bit longer,” concedes Kenma, beginning to sit up so he can get out of bed. Kenma has to get out of bed, he's terrified of what that stupid mouth might say if he doesn't; Kuroo has other plans though. Kuroo’s hand catches Kenma’s arm and lightly tugs it, “no, you stay too,” mumbles Kuroo with closed eyes, his face partially obscured by the pillow. 

Just like that, Kenma lays back down despite him wanting to smack himself for it, “okay, I-I’ll stay.”

Kuroo pulls Kenma close once more, and Kenma doesn't even try to stop him. Now they both lay in silence, spooning each other with Kuroo being the big spoon and Kenma taking the role as the little spoon. Not even the fire in a dragon’s stomach can compare to the fire felt on Kenma's face; he thinks Kuroo might've fallen back asleep already.

The room is quiet, the walls doing an excellent job of masking the sounds of those already rising. The breathing of Kuroo is steady and slow, a familiarity that calms Kenma. The warmth of Kuroo's chest pressed against his own back steadys him as his breaths begin to slow, mimicking Kuroo's own, the thin layers of their own clothes separating them. Kenma’s falling asleep, his breathing just in line with Kuroo's and the flaming blush that had previously engulfed his face now just a burning ember.

Friends do things like this all the time, right?

“Morning, Kenma, again,” greets Kuroo just as Kenma leaves the realm of drowsiness enough to understand language once more, several hours later. “S-sorry I dragged you into sleeping an extra four hours,” begins Kuroo, removing his looped arms from around Kenma and sitting up, “I was just feeling really lazy, ya know?” Kenma isn't completely buying the excuse. “Plus…” Kuroo falters now that Kenma too is sitting up and looking at him, Kuroo hates to admit it but he knows there's a blush on his face, “p-plus it's easier to fall asleep if you're here, alright?” Well, now they both have flushed faces, “I'm a cuddler, what can I say?” Laughs Kuroo; it's that type of embarrassed laugh that people do when they try to play off something embarrassing as a joke, he's not succeeding.

All that's going on in Kenma's mind, however, is flashing red lights and someone panickedly yelling the word alert because Kuroo just mentioned the fact that he willingly cuddles with Kenma, which is something he thought they weren’t ever going to talk about. “I-it’s okay, I didn't mind at all,” says Kenma, waving it off. 

It's official, Kenma is an idiot, and Kuroo will be the death of him. ‘I don't mind at all,’ what is he thinking, why would he say that? Well it is true, but Kuroo isn't supposed to know that.

Kuroo, on the other hand, wants to hit his head against a wall repeatedly because, he wasn't going to mention any of that, so why did he? Kenma said he doesn't mind though… he doesn't even want to think about how he acted like a needy cat looking for affection from it's owner this morning, pulling Kenma back onto the bed in the midst of his drowsiness. Kuroo clears his throat, “we should both probably get up now, everyone else is probably wondering why we're taking four hours longer than usual to get out of bed.” Kuroo turns his head away, hoping to hide some of the redness of his cheeks.

“Yeah, you're right,” agrees Kenma, eyes focusing on anything but Kuroo.

Kenma only allows Kuroo to sleep in his bed out of necessity, after all, Kuroo has to sleep close to him so he can ward off nightmares, since he is a pyromancer. It's not necessary for Kuroo to sleep under the sheets in his humanoid form though, when Kuroo was sleeping at the foot of Kenma's bed as a long haired black cat with amber eyes in his familiar form, that was out of necessity, this isn't.

Is this really something that friends do?

Kenma is reaching upward for that fruit that he constantly denies himself, but now he feels just a bit taller; that fragrant fruit dangling just above him is just the tiniest bit easier to get to, but the wind is still blowing.

Kuroo had already left the room a while ago, leaving Kenma to shower and refresh himself. Now, Kenma is giving himself a once over in the mirror. He's donning a thin, black, and short sleeved shirt, a dark red cardigan to go along with it that's sleeves are pushed just past his elbows, a pretty cream white skirt that starts at his waist and ends at the lower part of his thighs and black stockings underneath. Kenma stares at the reflection of himself as it copies his every movement and twitch. He picks at the hem of his cardigan as he contemplates wearing the outfit in question, is it too much? Should he lose the skirt and stockings? The last time he even wore a skirt was a little before Kuroo arrived. A teasing voice within him whispers, ‘who are you wearing something so nice for?’ The voice isn't his own and Kenma opts to ignore it rather than opening that can of worms.

Kenma takes a deep breath and sighs before he finally heads downstairs. It seems like for the first time today Kenma is actually conscious and not blushing, much to his own relief. 

Kenma passes through the dining room and enters the kitchen, the kitchen is rather busy as usual despite it being just Suga and Daichi who are both there as usual, “ah, looks like you and Kuroo-san are finally awake then,” starts Suga as he continues handwashing an assortment of pans, pots, and plates— he always insists that hand washing gets the job done better than any magic can, “normally I would punish Kuroo-san for sleeping in and skipping out on helping me this morning, but I'll make an exception for today, you two wanted some alone time, right?” Teases Suga with a knowing smile, drying his hands with a nearby towel.

“Wh— I-I dunno what you mean, I was just still tired after waking up and so was he, s-so we both slept in a little,” Kenma's not truly lying by saying that, excluding a few things, that's pretty much what happened.

Suga chuckles as he moves away from the sink and past Kenma as he begins looking through cupboards on the designated cooking and food preparation side of the kitchen, “right right, of course.” Daichi can be heard letting out a small chuckle from where he is before he moved past Kenma toward the fridge and pulls out a variety of ingredients in large amounts. Kenma honestly doesn't know how Suga and Daichi can always make enough food to go around for everyone in the house and still have free time; it definitely no doubt does help that familiars naturally eat less than humans, though.

“I hope you'll be okay with sub sandwiches and sweet tea or lemonade for lunch today, Kenma-kun. You know we usually make something more high effort, it's just that Noya-kun and Tanaka-kun have been begging me and Daichi to make them for weeks now,” chuckles Suga, still rummaging through the cupboards.

“That sounds fine, thank you Suga-san.”

Suga clicks his tongue in annoyance, “oh dear, we're missing a few things…and I already sent Hinata-kun on a different errand…” Suga’s face forms a small pout as he weighs his options on what to do.

“…I could go to the store and get them for you, Suga-san,” quietly offers Kenma despite himself, twirling a loose thread of his skirt in between his index finger and thumb. Kenma wants to be helpful, he never does anything around the house, it's the least he could do, right? He just has to ignore the fact that he'll be in public by himself with everybody staring at him he just has to ignore that he'll be forced to talk with at least one stranger, just ignore it for long enough till he's already in the store, then there'll be no turning back so he'll be forced to do it. Surely he can make it through a simple trip to the store, right?

“Oh no no, you don't have to do that for me,” says Suga, waving off the idea. Suga knows very well that Kenma would rather not interact with strangers at all. Heck, Kenma doesn’t even like going outside most of the time.

Kenma isn't really about to argue, not going would save him a lot of trouble, he could just help out with something else around the house, something that doesn't require him talking to or being near any strangers… but Kenma can't help but to feel guilty on just so easily giving up on the task after he offered to help— “really Suga-san, it wouldn't be any trouble at all, I’ll come with, of course, so that I can protect this little kitten here, wouldn't want him getting caught up in something like what happened last week at the amusement park,” urges Kuroo, appearing behind Kenma out of nowhere and leaning down to rest his chin on top of Kenma’s head. Kuroo had to restrain himself from putting cute before the word kitten, not that he's ever going to admit that, not even to himself.

Kuroo called called him kitten, Kenma tries to think nothing of it despite the pink dusting his cheeks. “Don't even remind me,” Suga rubs his forehead in a circular motion with the palms of his hands, “just the memory of when I found out is giving me a heart attack.”

Kuroo chuckles, “right, my apologies, Suga-san. It’d be nice for me to go outside and get some fresh air, so how about it? Can Kenma go? And Kenma,” Kuroo lifts his chin off of Kenma and moves to face him, “will you allow me to join you on your crusade?” Kuroo bats his eyelashes at Kenma and grins like he already knows the answer— which he does.

Kuroo knows Kenma isn't looking forward to going outside and talking to strangers, but he also knows that Kenma is always more confident when there are people he trusts nearby, and Kuroo likes to think of himself as someone Kenma trusts. “Well, if Kuroo-san's coming along then I don't see a problem,” smiles Suga.

“So?” Kuroo continues to bat his eyelashes with an expectant smirk.

“Yes, of course you can come,” sighs Kenma, averting his eyes and pink still dusting his cheeks. 

Kuroo's face breaks into a grin, “great, then let's not waste anytime, all we need is a list of stuff to buy from Suga-san and then we'll be off.”

Then, with the desired list of items from Suga in Kuroo and Kenma's possession, they’re almost out the door. 

Kenma picks at the loose strand of thread from his skirt once more as he stands by Kuroo, who’s bent over, slipping on his shoes. Kuroo stands up straight after re-tying the laces of his shoe and dusts a few orange dog hairs off his black dropped arm hole tank top before putting a hand on Kenma's shoulder, a smile playing on his lips and a brow raised, “so, ready to go?” He asks, Kenma exhales a small breath and nods.

Kenma sends a tiny smile Kuroo's way and Kuroo's heart skips a beat, “thank you for coming with me.”

Kuroo scratches the back of his neck, now with his face flushed a little, “n-no problem, wouldn't be here if I didn't want to be.”

They step outside, thankful that the sun isn't harshly beating down on them today, and walk out of the rich neighborhood. Kuroo's eye catches sight of the bush that he hid behind so many months ago as a newly turned demon familiar taking ragged breaths. What led him up to that point is something he tries not to think about, all the people he hurt… all the lives he ruined in the centuries before this point… he was a monster in a mans’ skin. 

“Kuroo.” Kenma's voice pulls Kuroo from his thoughts, “you're going the wrong way, and stop looking so serious, it looks weird on you.”

Kuroo blinks and turns around, now facing the right direction, he chuckles, “so you prefer to see me smiling then?” He ask as he lets Kenma take the lead, since Kenma is the one who knows where they're going.

“No, you look creepy when you smile.” Kenma's lying through his teeth and Kuroo knows it, especially if the hidden embarrassment on Kenma's face in anything to go by.

Kuroo gives Kenma a one armed hug and Kenma's face heats up as his cheek gets squished against Kuroo’s side for a moment before Kuroo releases him from the hug, “you can't fool this cat,” he grins, unlike the usual grin, this one isn't mischievous. 

Kenma rolls his eyes in response, the corner of his mouth twitching upward, “okay, so I lied; you just look like a dork when you smile.” This makes Kuroo chuckle.

They continue walking and no one speaks, Kenma would consider it a rather comfortable silence if he wasn't already so lost in his head, going over what to say in preparation for the looming threat that is having to speak to the cashier. Kenma knows he really doesn't have to go through all the trouble of reciting what to say, as speaking to the cashier would probably only take two or three words tops.

’But what if I gets stuck with one of the chatty ones? Then they'll start asking me things and—’ they turn a corner and Kenma's foot catches on something; for as quick as Kuroo's reflexes are, the unexpected sight of Kenma falling forward catches him of guard. He tries to catch Kenma but it's too late and the long haired boy falls and lands with a palm and an elbow on the ground, his waist twisted so he landed on the side of his legs rather than his knees. In the fall Kenma's elbow scrapes against the concrete of the sidewalk, drawing blood and successfully freaking out Kuroo.

Kenma hisses out a sound of pain and Kuroo is crouching down beside Kenma instantaneously. “Oh shit! Are you okay?” Asks Kuroo, his forehead creasing with worry as he acts like it's not an injury that can just be walked off with ease.

“I'm fine,” winces Kenma as he shifts to sit up right, trying to inspect the damage. His hand stings but it’s not bleeding and his clothes seems to have come out practically unscathed. The most damage has clearly been caused to his elbow, and though it hurts, the blood makes it look a lot worse than it is. Kuroo doesn't seem to realize this because he honestly looks almost panicked, it kinda makes Kenma wanna laugh.

Kuroo takes Kenma's elbow with gentle and calloused hands, “lucky for you, I have tissues and bandaids in my pocket.”

“What are you, my mother?” Laughs Kenma, not being able to help himself.

“Actually,” begins Kuroo, joking in a matter of factly tone since he can now see that Kenma really is okay from the way he laughed a moment ago, “Suga makes it mandatory for all familiars in your house to have tissues and band-aids at the ready whenever, as well as a few other things,” he explains as he pulls them out and begins cleaning the blood off of Kenma's elbow.

Kenma chuckles in response, “I can do that myself you know.”

“Yeah I know, but I couldn't catch you in time, so at least lemme do this for you.” This silences Kenma— it's not like it was Kuroo's responsibility to catch him, and Kenma didn't expect it of him, yet Kuroo still feels obligated to do this, why is that?

There's that dangling piece of fruit again, whipping back and forth through a stifling breeze that carries no scent. Nothing has changed but something is different, like before, it's not the things around him that changed, but he has, because there he stands, now tall enough to almost reach the ripe fruit. If Kenma was a little bit taller and the fruit sat still while he stood on the tips of his toes, he would be able to reach that sweet fruit without even jumping, granted, Kenma's sure that even under those circumstances he probably would only barely reach; too bad the wind hasn't even calmed yet.

Kuroo carefully places the band-aid onto Kenma's hurt elbow and quickly moves on, inspecting Kenma's other hand with caution, not wanting to inflict any pain onto Kenma, “how badly does it hurt?”

“It stings a little but it's fine Kuroo, honestly.”

Kuroo purses his lips; he begins debating if Kenma is trying to make it seem less painful than it is, “alright then, if you're so sure.”

Kenma begins to pick himself up, barely getting to finish dusting himself off before getting swept right off his feet by Kuroo.

It's suddenly starting to feel like this morning all over again for Kenma, Kuroo's holding him bridal style and Kemna’s face has burst into flames in a matter of seconds. “W-w-what are you doing!?” Asks Kenma, completely caught off guard.

“I'm carrying you, did you hurt your eyes when you fell or something?” Jokes Kuroo, trying to use his humor as a means to distract himself from the warmth of his own cheeks.

Kenma lightly hits Kuroo in the chest but doesn't really do much to get out of his hold, “I-I know that, but why? Why are you holding me?”

“Well,” he starts in a matter of fact tone, “clearly your legs can't be trusted to carry you, so if they can't, then it's my responsibility to do it for them.”

“But it's not you're res—” Kenma gets cut off by Kuroo.

“Nuh uh, none of that. I won't have you tripping again; not on my watch.”

Kenma hides his face in Kuroo's chest as people and creatures walk by and Kuroo's heart squeezes in a funny way, “can you at least hold me in a less embarrassing way?” Mumbles Kenma.

“Hmmmm? What's wrong with the way I'm carrying you right now?” Grins Kuroo, he just can't help himself, Kenma's face just looks so… so funny, yeah, that's what it is.

“It’s just embarrassing, okay?” Mumbles Kenma— his face still hidden against Kuroo's chest— it almost sounds like he’s actually whining.

“Alright, alright,” concedes Kuroo as he gently places Kenma down, “since it's embarrassing to hold you like that, you gotta jump on my back and I'll carry you like that.”

“Somehow, this doesn't seem much better either…” notes Kenma as he hops onto Kuroo’s back and loops his arms around Kuroo's neck.

“Pshhh you know you're enjoying the free ride,” grins Kuroo, adjusting his hold of Kenma as he continues walking before stopping at a crossroads.

Kenma does nothing to deny it and instead hides his face against Kuroo’s neck, “just shut up and take a right,” Kuroo chuckles and decides to stop teasing Kenma for now. 

“How much further is it ‘till we get to that store anyways?” 

Kenma is relieved at the change of topic and opts to just lay his head against Kuroo back instead of trying to hide his face, “not too much further now, once we turn that corner in the distance we're pretty much there,” he explains.

“I'm kinda surprised that you get your food from a grocery store, your family is so posh that I didn't think you would,” chuckles Kuroo.

“Well, I've never really been to a regular grocery store, but I know the one that we get our food from is pretty different, it's really huge…” Kenma trails off, he's only ever actually been to the place a few times since just being there makes him anxious.

“Is that so? Well then don't worry, I'll make it my duty to guide you through the catacombs of this store and protect you from any foul beasts we may come across.”

Kenma laughs, “thank you, Kuroo.”

“It's the least I can do,” he grins.

Upon arrival Kuroo stands there for a full minute just gawking at the place, Kenma wasn't exaggerating in the slightest when he said the store was huge. “Friggin rich people, I bet they're gonna have chandeliers and red carpets on the inside with butlers for every customer,” grumbles Kuroo.

Kenma snorts, “it doesn't get quite that fancy, although with the way that we decorate they probably could.” Kuroo and Kenma both chuckle as Kuroo approaches the store, “most of the people and creatures there are just running errands for their bosses anyways.”

“Great, I don't have to worry about being looked down upon by big business tycoons when they see the rags I'm wearing,” jokes Kuroo.

Kuroo stops beside the entrance to the store— which he now knows is called ‘La Fantasia’— as Kenma starts talking, “you can put me down now, I’m pretty sure I can manage walking around the store.”

“I had a feeling you'd say that; I suppose I’ll let your legs take things over from here, but let it be known that if you even stumble, I will most likely have to carry you again.” Kenma releases a quick puff of air from his nose, signaling his not so hidden amusement as he rolls his eyes and gently slips off of Kuroo's back.

“After you,” says Kuroo coyly when he reaches the door.

Kenma enters and the place is as big and overly decorated as he remembers, the further in he walks through, the tighter his throat is starting to feel. Already, he can feel so many eyes looking at him, staring at him, judging him, whispering about him, some burning holes into him with nothing more than their eyes. It feels like so many people are staring at him, but when he looks around he sees nothing. It's like the moment he turns away their gazes find him again. He looks around, again, nothing— but now he quickly regrets it, he catches the eye of an arachne girl— someone with the upper half of a human and lower half of a spider— and her human friend, the eight legged girl looks away, noticing she's been caught looking, she turns and whispers to her friend when she thinks Kenma isn't looking anymore, but he is. He is, and he sees her friend raise an eyebrow. 

Suddenly there's something stuck in Kenma’s throat and he's starting to panic, ‘I should've known. I should've known better,’ his thoughts begin to progressively become more panicked and rapid fire, ‘I should've known not to come here, i-it was a mistake, this was a mistake, they're laughing at me, they're laughing at the way I'm dressed, I-I shouldn't have worn this, it all looks wrong, I shouldn't have worn the skirt—’ 

He feels a larger hand grasp his own, Kuroo leans down and whispers into Kenma's ear, “they're staring at you because of how beautiful you look right now,” the words leave his mouth and just like that, every thought shooting through Kenma's head slams to a halt.

Kenma can barely even believe Kuroo’s just said that, “w-what?”

“You heard me, everything about you, down to the look on your face when you blush just holds so much beauty, of course they're gonna stare,” smiles Kuroo, Kenma's face getting redder with blush by the word.

“D-don't be silly, no one thinks that…”

“By the looks of it, those girls do,” a quick glance in their direction and Kenma realizes that they're actually smiling at him, they were never actually being negative at all, “and I do too,” Kuroo gives Kenma's hand a gentle squeeze and lets go.

Kenma's reaction is immediate and he doesn't even give Kuroo enough time to fully retract his hand before pulling him into a tight hug. Kenma's face is buried in Kuroo's chest as he speaks, “thank you Kuroo… you look like such a dork when you smile,” Kenma lets out an airy laugh.

Kuroo chuckles with a flushed face, “so do you.”

Friends don't act like this.

There's that stupid fruit, just dangling tauntingly above Kenma. Then again, there's not a hint of a breeze to be found, the perfume of that fruit wafts all around him, so who's really the stupid one? Who's really the foolish one? He's lost the excuse that was supposed to be holding him back. The air is still, but yet so is Kenma. Kenma’s eyes have been trained on that imaginary fruit for much too long, but his arms aren't moving a muscle, despite this almost real cramps in his toes from how long he's been stood at the tips of them.

Kenma reluctantly pulls back from the hug, “we should probably actually start shopping for stuff now,” chuckles Kuroo; he doesn't remember when that subtle but persistent feeling in chest first appeared, was it always there perhaps? Would that even be possible? Whatever the origin, it's there in his chest, and it feels more annoyingly persistent than ever. Despite how Kuroo tried to play it off, the hug caught him off guard, and it felt like his heart swelled much larger than should be allowed within his chest.

“Yeah,” agrees Kenma.

They walk along the aisles of La Fantasia looking for the needed goods, well more like Kenma looks and Kuroo marvels at how unnecessarily fancy the place is and mutters, “fuckin’ rich people,” every time he sees a price tag. 

The walls are painted a deep brown and the floor is made of three different types of wood, birch, oak and spruce, polished and arranged in thick horizontal stripes. The ceiling is quite high, and wouldn't ya know it, it has actual chandeliers. Everything is either displayed elegantly stacked on fancy birch tables with detailed designs crawling up the legs or on fancy looking shelves that look like they should be carrying books instead. The only exception, is of course the refrigerated products; some how even the refrigerators they're in look super high class. All in all, Kuroo is torn between being amazed by how unnecessarily fancy it is, and being irked by how unnecessarily fancy it is.

“Ah, Kuroo can you hand me that ground pepper on the top shelf?” Asks Kenma.

“Yeah sure,” says Kuroo, reading the label before passing it to Kenma, “okay what the hell, ¥3000 for 8 ounces of ground black pepper? That's completely ridiculous; I know you could get 8 ounces for like ¥700 at a regular place!”

Kenma snorts, “I'm surprised you have enough intellect to understand how currency works.”

Kuroo scoffs, “I'm surprised your snobby rich pallet allows you to eat anything priced under ¥8000,” retaliates Kuroo. Obviously, neither of them actually hold any malice behind their words. “Seriously though, why buy all your ingredients and food from this place?”

Kenma shrugs, “my parents insist for only the best and highest of quality that their money can buy.” That's the first time Kuroo's actually heard Kenna directly mention his parents in all the months that Kuroo's been living with him and the others. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that Kenma’s parents are practically never around, it makes Kuroo worry if they even pay attention to Kenma at all… this is the first time Kenma mentions them, so clearly they aren't best friends. Kuroo's been able to piece together most of his knowledge of them only from what the other familiars have told him.

“Back in my day we had to swim out into the middle of the ocean and hunt fish with our bare hands during tsunamis and underwater volcano eruptions!” Kuroo shakes his head in a mock disapproving tone, “tsk tsk tsk, kids these days, so ungrateful.”

The corner of Kenma’s lips twitches upward, “pff, I forget how old you are sometimes, although looking at that face, suddenly I can see it.”

“Ouch,” smirks Kuroo, pleasantly surprised that he’s got Kenma to tease him again already, “I’ll have you know that I'm a mere 293 years young; you're just jealous that I'm so wise for my age,” grins Kuroo, a hand over his heart.

“Let's just get the next item,” laughs Kenma, failing to hide his smile. When he's with Kuroo, all his anxiety of what people think and how they view him just melts away, he feels safe in Kuroo's presence. Sure, his friends help him, but they simply aren't able to provide the security he feels when with Kuroo; there's no other way that he would be actually laughing like this in a public place with so many eyes watching without Kuroo being there. 

There, as they walk to the next aisle, Kenma sees him, that mysterious man that he caught sight of in the circus tent, strangely familiar yet also a complete stranger at the same time. However, here, it is much better lit so when Kenma caught the man's eyes in what was meant to be a passing glance, he felt sudden and small pricks of anxiety accompanied by a shiver. The man is tall with green hair parted on the side. Tearing his eyes away because he just can't bare to look the man in the eye any longer— even though it hasn't been a full second yet— his eyes land on a beautiful woman with black hair that almost seems to be a deep blue, her face is blemish free, except for a small mole underneath the corner of her mouth, she's wearing glasses and a navy blue yukata, and that eerily familiar yukata puts Kenma on edge. He looks back at the sly looking man with the green hair, but he's gone; Kenma's eyes swivel back to the woman, gone. 

Kenma wants to panic but Kuroo is right there, and he calms down, was it a hallucination? Maybe something similar to the ‘dream’ he had a few months ago that freaked him out? Either way, he needs to be sure, cautiously, his anima reaches out into the open air, careful not to brush by Kuroo’s anima as he does, and he feels nothing. If anyone malicious was here Kenma would be able to sense them, Kenma fully relaxes now, he's safe and he didn't have to force Kuroo to deal with his paranoia.

Kenma should start giving Kuroo some more credit though, because unbeknownst to Kenma, Kuroo noticed immediately when that mysterious man and the woman appeared.

The first time it happened Kuroo, Akaashi, and Bokuto had their guards down and there were too many anima all crowded in one place to rat them out, to notice the toxicity festering underneath. Now though, now that Kuroo's not in a crowd of anima he can sense the filth that their anima carry easily despite the best attempt to conceal it, Kenma might be able to fall for the magic that is being used to conceal the demons’ anima despite the recent magic training with Kuroo in that past few weeks, but Kuroo won't.

The two of them reach the next aisle, “you look for the paprika here, I'll look for it at the end of the aisle, okay?” Asks Kuroo before Kenma nods in agreement.

Kuroo walks down to the very end of the aisle, spotting the paprika on his way there before turning the corner and out of Kenma's sight, now's his chance since Kenma isn't paying attention to Kuroo and isn't expecting him to go anywhere, “I know you're here, Daishou, Kiyoko-san. Don't fuck this up for me. I know what you two are planning, just leave us be and call off your friends,” says Kuroo gritting his teeth.

The hairs on the back of Kuroo's neck stand on end, “I thought they were your friends too,” speaks a sardonic and almost snake-like voice from behind him.

Kuroo doesn't bother to turn around and face Daishou, “…I’ve got a good thing going here, alright? It's much better than what I used to have.” He can tell Daishou wants to say something back, but he doesn't. Instead, he and Kiyoko disappear; Kuroo lets out a bone deep sigh and turns back around into the aisle, grabbing the paprika as he walks up to Kenma just in time for Kenma to look up at Kuroo's direction.

Kuroo’s eyes look down at Kenma and his worry washes away, Daishou wouldn't have left if he was planning on doing more harm, so hopefully that's the end of that, no, it is the end of that. He has to believe it, for Kenma's sake. “Who would wanna put paprika on a sub sandwich?” Asks Kuroo, scrunching his nose with a brow raised as he reads the label.

“Tanaka-san, probably,” answers Kenma.

Kuroo snorts, “yeah, true.”

 

On their way home Kuroo insists on carrying every single bag of groceries, of course Kenma refuses, but Kuroo is very adamant about carrying them all, “I'm sure you know some levitation spell that you could use to carry all these groceries, it would be easier,” comments Kenma as they draw nearer home.

“Yeah, I could do that, but I look more gentlemanly like this, don't I?” Kuroo grins proudly, “besides, I'm so tough that I could carry all these groceries and you without any problem at all.”

“I'd rather not get dropped on my head,” quickly replies Kenma, in reality though, it's not that he fears for his head, more like he fears for his heart; he has no doubt that Kuroo could carry all these groceries and him easily, but at the cost of Kenma having a heart attack.

“You know I wouldn't let you fall,” Kuroo bats his eyelashes at Kenma, who's opening the door to the house.

“I’d rather not find out for myself, I'll just have to take your word for it instead of testing it out,” shrugs Kenma as Kuroo places down the groceries on the kitchen counter top.

“Thank you both so much for going and getting these for me,” thanks Suga as soon as he notices the two are back. “There was no trouble at the store, right?” 

With a small smile on his lips, Kenma speaks, “no, no trouble at all, Kuroo was there to protect me, after all.”

Kuroo's ears go red, he’s actually kinda flustered, “heh, did you expect any less?”

“Of course not,” smiles Kenma as he begins leaving the kitchen to return to room.

Kuroo bites his lip, raking his mind for ways to get Kenma to stay with him for just a bit longer, “uh, Kenma,” he starts, successfully preventing Kenma from leaving for his room, “do you wanna watch a movie with me? We could stay inside and watch it on the TV in your room,” Suga’s face holds a knowing smile as he takes a moment to watch them. 

Kuroo and Suga meet eyes for a moment, and Suga nods as the go ahead to skip on working for now.

Yeah, I'd like that very much, actually.”

Kuroo grins, it's not a teasing or mischievous one, just a pure grin. “Dork,” mutters Kenma under his breath with rosy cheeks as they walk out of the dining room and up the stairs together. Kuroo hears him but pretends he doesn't for the sake of his own heart.

“You're too lenient with Kuroo-san,” chuckles Daichi back in the kitchen.

Suga sighs, “I know, but can you blame me? You know what it felt like when we first met,” smiles Suga as he begins helping Daichi prepare lunch.

Daichi hums thoughtfully, “that's true.”

Now in Kenma's room, Kenma and Kuroo walk over to one of his many book shelves filled with video games and movies, “you can pick which movie we watch since you suggested the idea.”

“I uh, haven't actually watched a movie since the were first invented… I didn't see the big deal and I thought they were pretty mediocre so I passed judgement pretty quickly and never bothered watching another one.” 

Kenma gives him a look of exasperation, “why'd you suggest watching a movie then?”

Kuroo figures, ‘'because I wanted to continue spending time with you and it was the first thing I could think of,’ isn't the best answer, so instead he says, “well I heard they've gotten pretty good in the last 40 decades, besides, this'll make picking a movie interesting.”

In the end, Kuroo picks the first movie in a long series of movies about a teenager and his humanoid companion that's made of shadows who live in a dystopian future where magic is prohibited and magical creatures are slaves to the rich and powerful once more. They have to put the movie on pause less than a quarter of the way into it because lunch is ready, though.

They eat lunch together and socialize with the others downstairs, but once they finish, the two of them go back to watching the movie. 

What starts off as just watching one movie gets out of hand and turns into a nine movie marathon with breaks in between to stretch their legs and get popcorn.

 

Kuroo and Kenma take a break to have a light dinner, not feeling terribly hungry since they ate a lot of popcorn beforehand. After dinner though, they're back at it again watching their movie marathon. It's already extremely early in the morning— so early that it’s still completely dark out— and Kuroo and Kenma are only on the sixth movie in the series. 

Kenma and Kuroo lay on the bed together, watching the movie from there, their arms so close they're almost touching. Kenma usually can stay awake for much longer than this, but tonight, he's having a hard time keeping awake; it doesn't help that the lights are turned off, leaving only the soothing glow of light from the movie.

Kenma finds himself leaning into Kuroo's shoulder as it becomes harder and harder to keep his eyes open— what he does next though, he does unconsciously and without realization, his anima seeps out. This is something that's extremely common in young children still getting used to their magic, their anima will tend to seep out, always just above the surface. Kids quickly learn how to control it until it's second nature, for anima to unconsciously seep out like it's doing with Kenma, he have to be completely relaxed and calm.

Kuroo can feel Kenma's anima, the energy of Kenma's magic humming against his skin. Kenma's anima is a reflection of sorts, to Kuroo, Kenma's anima feels warm but he also gets a sense of vigilance, waiting and watching and noticing things that perhaps others like him might miss… it feels comforting to Kuroo, for some reason, so he returns the favor. Slowly, and with caution, he lets his own anima seep out. Kuroo gnaws at his bottom lip as his anima lightly nudges Kenma's own before settling down, pressed up against Kenma's anima. 

It seems like only then does Kenma realize what's happening, he's still drowsy as he lets his own anima sink into the touch. It feels pleasant, this warmth between the two. Kuroo can't for the life of himself figure out why if feels like his heart is swelling so much within his chest, suppose two centuries of not feeling anything other than hate and malice will make it hard to distinguish emotions. That doesn't stop Kuroo though, because he likes how it feels. Kuroo wraps an arm around Kenma and brings him closer. Kenma sleepily leans into Kuroo's touch, both magically and physically.

If not a friend, then what does he think of Kuroo?

Kenma is standing underneath a tree that yields tantalizingly sweet smelling fruit, his eyes trained on a low hanging branch with a single fruit dangling, the sweet scent wafting all around him. Kenma reaches straight forward for the fruit— he feels bigger— his hand hovers in front of it, the reassuring warmth Kuroo gives prominent in the back of his head. It gently pushes him forward. A tiny snap is heard, now the fruit is in his hand. The fruit holds an answer, an answer to a question Kenma had been scared to ask. Kenma isn't scared anymore, after all, he has Kuroo with him. He bites into the fruit.

Kuroo leans his head against Kenma's own, he can smell Kenma's hair, it smells of lavender and cinnamon tea.

It never was the feeling of limerence in the first place, was it? Kenma feels sleepy, but his head is clear; this feeling, it's not just some crush that'll go away in a month or two, it's something stronger. It's something that makes Kenma's heart swell when Kuroo genuinely feels proud of himself for accomplishing something, it's something that makes Kenma happy when Kuroo smiles. 

Shit then, things just got a whole lot more complicated, didn't they?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kenma practically said I love you to Kuroo three times, and Kuroo pretty much said it back twice. Anyways, look forward to regular updates throughout the summer, I'm really happy to be writing again.
> 
> if you wanna see my Haikyuu fanart and stuff or just ask questions about the fanfic and any future ones, please feel free to head over to my Tumblr, https://neptune-bug.tumblr.com :^)


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Make sure you read the notes at the end, it's v important (☞ຈل͜ຈ)☞

Kenma stands on the doorstep of his home with his psp in hand and phone in his back pocket, it's an unforgivingly hot day and Kenma's already getting uncomfortably warm despite his light clothing. “You sure you don't want someone to walk you to Yaku-san's house, like usual?” Kuroo asks while he sees Kenma off, waggling his eyebrows as if trying to hint exactly who that someone should be.

“I'll be fine, Kuroo, really,” says Kenma. It's not that he wouldn't enjoy the company, it's just that the main reason he wants to hang out with Yaku and Lev today is to discuss the pressing matter he realized three days ago and walking with Kuroo minutes beforehand would only make things more awkward. Kenma raises a brow, “besides, aren't you still making it up to Suga for that one day where you did pretty much absolutely nothing?”

Kuroo winces. “And whose fault do you think that is,” he mutters accusingly.

Kenma snorts. “Hey, I gave you the option and you accepted, not my fault you're weak willed.”

Kuroo sighs in defeat and leans his head against the door frame, seemingly not bothered at all by the heat that's blasting him from where he stands, “you're right, I'm biding my time as it is, I'm supposed to be mopping this entire place soon. Well, have fun with Yaku-san and Lev-kun, come back before it gets dark, or else I might just have to drag you back myself,” Kuroo jokes as he shoots Kenma a lopsided grin and Kenma nods with a blush on his face that isn't because of the sweltering weather.

The joke was only half serious. Okay, maybe a little bit more than half.

Kenma walks briskly in the heat as he heads to Yaku’s home, it's in a different neighborhood, of course, so he's unfortunately gonna be stuck walking in the sticky heat for a little bit. Kenma frowns as he walks, his arms are dangling limply by his sides and he lets his thoughts trail back to the late night revelation from three days ago, as he's been prone to do recently. 

The warm and pleasant feeling that sat in his heart that night, leaning into each other as they laid in bed… how he accidentally pressed his anima against Kuroo… how Kuroo actually pressed back… Kenma thinks about that a lot, despite his better judgement.

He feels something for Kuroo. What about Kuroo, though? Does Kuroo feel something? Surely not, right? They're just friends, that's all Kuroo sees him as.

Words like ‘what if’ are what kill people, and currently, they're killing Kenma, because no matter how much he tells himself that he needs to let Kuroo go because there's no chance, those what ifs whisper things to him that drive him insane, because then they ask, “but what if he does?”, and then he thinks about how Kuroo hugs him, he thinks about Kuroo's smile and his laughter… and he thinks about that night three days ago and how nice everything felt as he fell asleep next to Kuroo.

Kenma nearly walks into Yaku’s front door because he’s so lost in his head that he doesn't even realize that he's already there. Kenma feels like pulling his hair out, because even though he refused to let Kuroo walk him here, he still ended up thinking about Kuroo the entire time. 

Having feelings for someone is both incredibly frustrating and draining in Kenma's opinion, it's also wonderful at times though.

Kenma gently knocks on Yaku's door and only waits a moment before it's opened, Yaku smiles. “Hi Kozume.” 

Lev comes running from out of nowhere and nearly knocks over Yaku without even realizing it, “hey Kozume-kun!” Lev grins, excited to be seeing his friend again. 

Yaku pulls down Lev by the ear with an irritated look, “I thought I told you to wait in the living room.”

“Ow ow ow ow, you did but I was just so excited, I couldn't help myself!” Lev defends, his back hunched at an uncomfortable angle as he struggles against Yaku's grip.

Yaku huffs out in annoyance and lets go of Lev’s ear. “C’mon Kozume-kun, Yaku and I were watching this cool TV show while we were waiting for you,” Lev urges as he nurses his ear.

Kenma follows them into the house, hoping to get his thoughts away from Kuroo, if just for a moment.

“I didn't hurt you, right?” murmurs Yaku as they walk to the living room.

Lev grins, happy that Yaku’s showing that he cares. “No, I'm fine!” 

Lev says it as loud as he would anything else— which is too loud— and Yaku cringes with red cheeks. “Not so loud,” he scolds.

Kenma smiles with amusement as he overhears their conversation. “There's nothing to hide, Yaku.”

Yaku flinches and his face gets even warmer. “I-I know that, it's just that—”

Lev interrupts his partner. “Aww,” he coos, “Yaku’s blushing!”

“Shut up!” Yaku snaps, stomping away to sit on the couch with his face as red as a tomato. “Are we going to watch the show or not,” he asks crossly with his arms folded.

Lev laughs and Kenma fights away a smile before they both join him on the couch.

Kenma wants something like that, he wants to experience feelings like that with someone. Kenma bites his lip and forces himself to focus on the show before he can spoil the moment for himself, because there's no way he can have that, not with Kuroo.

He’s gonna have to tell his friends eventually, he doesn't really want to and would rather keep it to himself, but a second opinion on all of it would be very helpful. He’ll tell them later though, no reason to start up the pity party just yet.

 

Kuroo watches Kenma walk off from where he stands at the door for a little bit until Kenma turns a corner and is out of sight. His shoulders slump, today's probably gonna suck without Kenma.

Akaashi can apparently tell what Kuroo's thinking. “You're acting like Kenma-san will be gone for days, it's only going to be for a few hours, he'll be back before it gets dark,” says Akaashi with an amused look.

Kuroo sighs. “Yeah I know, but still…”

Akaashi raises a brow. “Still what?”

Kuroo purses his lips. “I just… ugh, I dunno.”

Akaashi hides his amused smile with the sleeve of his light blue yukata. “Perhaps you miss him already?” He suggests.

Akaashi seems to be right on the money because Kuroo quickly becomes a stuttering mess at the thought of even admitting that out loud, so instead Kuroo lowers his eyes down at the white petals flowing through the breeze printed on the bottom of Akaashi’s yukata. “Ugh I dunno, I guess…” he mumbles.

“What was that, Kuroo-san? I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch it,” asks Akaashi, who knew it's actually pretty fun teasing Kuroo?

Kuroo's ears turn red. “Yes I miss him,” he says it too quickly but Akaashi decides that's good enough.

“I suppose you'll have to find someone else to keep your mind off of him, yes? Just be sure you finish all your chores before you do, though,” reminds Akaashi, it wasn't the most fun doing almost all of Kuroo's work for him when he decided to spend the whole day with Kenma, so it's only fair that Kuroo should work extra hard.

Kuroo sighs. “Yeah yeah.” Washing piles of dishes isn't exactly the most riveting way to pass the time, but that's the price Kuroo is paying for running off with Kenma and having a movie marathon— he can't really say that he minds though, sure he still has to mop the entire mansion by himself, but spending all that time with Kenma was worth it; just remembering it is giving him that certain feeling in his chest, the one that makes his heart feel like it's swelling in his chest and puts a gentle smile on his lips, he really likes that feeling.

It's probably because it's been so long since he's actually felt any emotions other than rage and malice, but Kuroo honestly doesn't remember if he's ever felt like this before he met Kenma. 

His mopping unconsciously slows down as he furrows his brow and concentrates hard. Most of his memories from when he was a human are already very fuzzy, especially the farther back he goes, but there's one memory from when he was 14 that he remembers. It's crystal clear in Kuroo's mind, it's the day his sister was born. Kuroo remembers every emotion felt on that day, and the feeling he gets when he remembers that night a few days ago? He felt something like that when he cradled his little sister in his arms for the first time.

What was that thing that he felt? The feeling isn't actually identical to the memory either, it's kinda different in a way that's hard to explain, but he feels it deep in his heart.

“You keep on staring at the mop like that and at this rate you'll burn a hole into it,” snorts Tsukishima as he stands at the entrance to the room with his arms crossed. 

The sudden words startle Kuroo, actually making him jump a little. Tsukishima snickers and Kuroo can practically hear Yamaguchi whisper, “nice one, Tsukki” and that just irks him.

“Damn string bean,” Kuroo mutters under his breath. “What’s this,” begins Kuroo, now speaking out loud as he turns to fully face Tsukki, “is megane-kun my secret admirer? I know I'm magnificent but it's not good to stalk people,” he grins.

Tsukishima rolls his eyes. “Like I'd ever admire someone who has been stuck with extra work for the past two days because he decided he was allowed to skip out on chores for a day.”

“You wound me deep down to the very depths of my non-existent soul,” drawls out Kuroo, putting the back of his hand to his forehead for dramatic effect.

“Right,” says Tsukki, not amused whatsoever.

“Tell you what, how about you help me mop the rest of the mansion and we keep it between you and me?” Kuroo wiggles his eyebrows like it's a tempting offer.

“No,” Tsukki deadpans.

“Aw c'monnn.”

“No.”

“…please?”

Tsukishima sighs. “Why would I ever want to do that?”

“Because there's just so much good in your heart and you just love to help others in need?”

“No.”

“It's going to take all day otherwise.”

“Good, I hope it does.” Tsukki starts turning around to leave.

“I'll make it worth your while,” Kuroo drawls, like he's got something real good up his sleeve.

Tsukki stops despite himself and lets out a sigh even more exasperated than the last one. “And what could you possibly give me that would make me want to help you during my own free time?”

“How about a better attitude?” Kuroo grins when Tsukki's eyebrow twitches in annoyance, that's a little payback for earlier. Kuroo talks again before Tsukishima can spit out a scathing reply, “Seriously though,” he chuckles, “I'll treat you and your little boy friend to some strawberry shortcake and whatever else your hearts desire from that new fancy cafe that opened up nearby.”

Tsukki keeps his poker face going strong as he pretends to think it over, Kuroo must admit, the younger familiar is very good at that, considering even Kuroo can't get a read on what he's thinking. “…Fine. Only because Yamaguchi really wants to go there.”

Kuroo lets the mop drop to the floor unceremoniously with a loud clatter and grins as he pulls Tsukki down to ruffle his blonde hair— much to Tsukki's annoyment. “You're the best, megane-kun,” he praises.

Tsukishima pulls himself free and already feels the impending regret as Kuroo hands him another mop that certainly wasn't here a moment ago.

The time it takes to mop is quite significantly cut down with Tsukishima’s help and Kuroo is very thankful for that, and though they finished mopping after several hours, Kuroo isn't don't with him just yet, because as soon as they're finished he and Bokuto are dragging away Tsukki— who can't match their combined strength— by the arms.

When they're finally at their destination Tsukki snatches away his somewhat sore arms, “for some reason you don't look too happy,” remarks Kuroo.

“Why would I?” Tsukishima grinds his teeth a little.

“True,” concedes Kuroo, “I'll let Bokuto explain why we brought you to the training room.”

“You snuck off last time,” pouts Bo.

“I had more important things to do,” he shrugs.

“But I gave you my dessert just so you would hang out with us!”

Tsukishima purses his lips and Kuroo buts in, “soooo, we would like for you to apologise, and to make up for the lost time.”

Tsukki can be a snarky jerk, but he's not a heartless asshole, and Kuroo knows this, which is why he grins just as Tsukki grits out an, “I'm sorry.”

Kuroo snorts, “you sure you don't need to lay down a sec? That apology must've taken every ounce of strength in that boney body of yours.” 

Bokuto laughs at the joke and grins as he pats Tsukki on the back with too much force, “c’mon, let's go finally do some training together!”

 

After 10 episodes of the show they were watching, Lev suggests doing something different, “we can't watch TV the entire time, Yaku, what should we do now?”

“You're the one who wants to do something different, why don't you pick?” Asks Yaku, who would've gladly kept watching the show.

“Eh? You're silly, Yaku, we're the guests, so you have to!”

“That doesn't really make se—” Yaku sighs, “y’know what, whatever, how about we play some video games then?”

“Yes! We should play—” Yaku interrupts him.

“Ah ah ah, Lev, let's let Kouzume pick.”

Big mistake.

Too bad Yaku realizes it too late, Kenma's lips curl into a faint smile, “Mario Kart.”

Lev and Yaku let out exasperated groans that almost sound like they're in pain, “can't we play something different?” Asks Yaku, massaging his forehead as he inwardly scolds himself for being so careless.

“Nope. I choose Mario Kart.”

“Can you take back your offer, Yaku?” Begs Lev, he's been decimated in Mario Kart too many times and doesn't wanna go through the failure of it again.

Yaku sighs, “I wish I could, but it's too late,” Yaku’s hand lazily gestures at the floating disc that's inserting itself into Yaku's gaming console with a little use of Kenma's magic.

Yaku and Lev reluctantly begin playing Mario Kart with Kenma even though they both know they're gonna get decimated every round. After Kenma leaves Yaku is gonna throw that disc into the ocean so this can never happen again, because too many lives have been lost because of this game. It was pretty funny to see Lev get crushed the first time they played it together a few years back, though.

They're racing on rainbow road now, Lev is in fourth place, Yaku’s in second, and surprisingly, he’s quickly catching up to Kenma, whose obviously in first. How Yaku is actually gaining on Kenma is beyond both him and Lev, but Yaku may finally have a chance, he doesn't want to get his hopes up, but things will never be the same if he can accomplish this; one thing's for sure, Kenma is seriously off his game today, Yaku and Lev don't know it, but Kuroo's the reason why.

Kenma can't help it, the realization is still so recent and fresh in his mind that it's just impossible for it to not eventually wander back into his mind. Kenma's trying to focus, he really is, but thoughts of Kuroo and that selfish, impossible, hope that just maybe he sees Kenma as more than a friend is intruding every crevice of his mind.

Can he really justify the cuddling as just friends? Can he really justify Kuroo's promise to him? Kuroo said he wouldn't leave him, it was a monumental promise to make for someone who he hadn't even known for half a year, and still doesn't. But it was late at night… they were both emotional… 

…does Kuroo even remember it?

Lev gasp loudly, “oh my god! Yaku passed Kouzume-kun! Yaku’s in first place!!” Lev’s shouts of astonishment pull Kenma back to reality, shit. Lev’s right, Kenma's in second place and Yaku's leaving him in the dust, Kenma hadn't even realized that he’d stopped pressing the go button all together until just now.

Kenma keeps his poker face and kicks himself into third gear, this race is gonna be a close one. “Yaku, Lev?” He asks, getting their attention while everyone keeps their eyes on the game, “I haven't known Kuroo for a long time, you both know that, but I've grown very close to him very quickly,” pink dusts Kenma's cheeks, “we've spent time with each other and told each other personal things, things that I would never tell anyone else that I had know for such a short amount of time… I feel so at ease with him, l-like he'll protect me or something.” Kenma's face is getting red with embarrassment but he refuses to look away from the screen, they're on the home stretch of the final lap and he's gaining on Yaku, Lev and Yaku are really wondering where Kenma's going with this. “I-I think— actually, no. I know,” Kenma takes a deep breath, “I have feelings for Kuroo, it’s more than just a crush, and I really don't know what to do about it.”

Whatever Kenma's friends were expecting, it certainly wasn't that. 

Kenma has never been one to have a crush or have feelings for other people, his first one was in middle school and it was extremely short lived, which is why Yaku and Lev would've never guessed that Kenma actually had feelings for Kuroo. It's so surprising, that it's enough to make Yaku let out a shocked, “what,” as the controller slips from his hands and for once Lev is just speechless.

Kenma's face is burning, “yeah, weird right? Oh, it looks like I won.” Kenma won but the game is already long forgotten in the minds of Lev and Yaku.

“Tell us everything,” Yaku emphasizes on the everything part. This may be harrowing for Kenma, but hey, at least he won Mario Kart and kept his prestige in tact.

 

Tsukki swings a punch charged with crackling magic meant to hit Bokuto right in the jaw, but Bokuto dodges it with ease, “you gotta be faster, Tsukishima-kun, put your whole body into it when you swing!”

Tsukki clicks his tongue, and turns to face Bokuto while swinging his fist once more, this time Bokuto grabs his arm and twists it while shoving him another direction, making Tsukki lose balance and fall, “too slow!” Calls Bokuto, who hasn't even broken a sweat.

Kuroo watches from the benches, “you're using the magic part of your ability but that's only the half of it, use your psionic abilities too!” Advises Kuroo from his spot on the bench.

“Well maybe my psionic abilities would actually come in handy if I were fighting spirits in the astral plane, but that's not the case,” snaps Tsukki, annoyance in his voice as he gets back up, “what's even the point of this?”

“Oh calm down princess, you’ll need it one day; what if someone you love is in danger? What will you do then?” questions Kuroo. Tsukki goes quiet, “get creative with your psionics, use telepathy and telekinesis while you fight, incorporate them into your own fighting style.”

“Look at you, Kuroo, actually giving good advice for once.”

“Tsukishima Kei, I'll have you know that I only ever give the best advice, because I am just that kind, in fact, I am always this kind,” Kuroo places a hand over his heart.

Tsukki rolls his eyes, “you've just been commentating on the sidelines the entire time, why don't you take Bokuto’s place?”

Kuroo shrugs, “alright fine, I will.”

Kuroo pats Bokuto's back as the switch places, flames ignite in the palms of his hands, “I turned on the safety setting to preserve your frail twig body, it’s just enough to hurt, but not enough to burn,” he grins.

“All the more inclined I am to make sure I hurt you as much as possible.”

Kuroo tsks, “shameful behavior, I expect better of you,” Kuroo waists no time and slams his fist into Tsukki’s stomach, knocking the wind out of him. “You gotta be more alert in these types of situations,” says Kuroo with a cheeky grin.

Tsukishima pulls himself up quickly and feints trying to swing at Kuroo with his left hand, when Kuroo dodges to the right, Tsukki quickly punches him in the nose, his magic adding an extra jolt of pain. “You gotta be more alert in these types of situations,” jeers Tsukki, copying what Kuroo said earlier.

That really irks Kuroo, mostly because of the throbbing pain in his nose— he knows it'll heal pretty quickly, but still.

Kicks and punches are thrown back and forth, of course, Kuroo has the upper hand, since in almost 300 years of living he's had a bit more time to practice techniques.

Kuroo catches that Tsukki’s balance is off and takes full advantage, he easily knocks Tsukki down to the ground and pins him down by pushing his foot into Tsukki's chest, “I'm pretty sure Kenma-san just got home.” 

It was Tsukki speaking, but it was inside Kuroo’s head, and Kuroo stutters for a moment, “wh— really?” He asks out loud. The answer is no, which he receives in the form of barely dodging a chair flying at his face. “I see you took my advice,” says Kuroo with a hint of annoyance, Tsukishima just smirks.

“That's what happens when you put your gross feet on me.”

Kuroo just purses his lips. “Whatever, the important thing is that I won.”

Tsukishima rolls his eyes, “just get off of me.”

Kuroo complies and helps him up, “okay, now do the same thing we did with Bo, but actually do a decent job this time, because I was holding back a lot,” he smirks as he pulls out his phone, “don't go too hard on him, Bo,” getting a phone was one of the greatest things to happen to Kuroo, it comes in extremely handy when he wants to preserve someone's embarrassing moments.

 

Evening has come and the sky has become a darker shade of blue, Kenma has an hour or two to get home before it turns dark out, upon the insistence, he told Yaku and Lev everything in more detail and his face was on fire the entire time and he pretty much ended up mumbling all of it due to embarrassment.

Thunder goes unnoticed as it rumbles in the distance, “I think you should tell him,” advises Yaku, “whether he feels the same way for you or not, it's going to eat you up inside if you keep it bottled up, and that's not healthy.” This is one on the rare occasions where Lev knows to be serious and is quite, he doesn't have much insight on the topic anyways.

Kenma stares down at the cup of tea in his hands, watching it gently swirl around, he sighs, “I dunno, I'm just not ready to tell him that, there are too many things that could go wrong,” anxiety swirls in his chest as he thinks about it, he needs to force the thoughts away or else he's gonna start feeling sick.

“He's your friend, and a good guy from the looks of it, Kouzume, even if he doesn't return your feelings, it's not like he's going to spit in your face if you tell him.”

“But what if—”

“Why are you so convinced he doesn't like you? To me it seems pretty obvious after you've told us all these things.”

“…it would be too good to be true,” he mumbles.

Whatever advice Lev begins to say gets completely drowned out by a loud crash of thunder, it was horribly sunny a few hours ago and suddenly, a thunderstorm springs up from out of nowhere, truly curious weather.

Kenma looks up from his cup of tea to study the sudden harsh rain pelting the windows, Yaku frowns, “if the rain keeps up then you and Lev won't be able to go home.”

“It wouldn't be that hard to cast a spell to create a makeshift umbrella,” reasons Kenma.

Yaku raises a brow, “did you hear that thunder? And what about those winds, they're really kicking up and that's way too dangerous. There's no way I'll allow you to leave my house if the storm keeps up like this,” he scolds. Kenma sighs, guess he'll be getting home late, because he knows Yaku won't change his mind about this.

 

Scratch getting home late, because hours later the storm is still going strong and Kenma isn't home yet. “Bro relax, the storm is just keepin’ him at Yaku-san's place, that's all,” says Bokuto as Kuroo dases off, looking at the window that's being beaten by the rain.

Kuroo sighs and shakes his head, “no yeah you're right, I just— I dunno.”

“What,” teases Tsukki, “is the big, bad, and tough Kuroo worried about Kenma-san?”

Kuroo's face twists into an exasperated grimace, “I dunno, I mean—” he raises an unsure brow, his cheeks a little pink, “probably? I wanna call him, just to make sure— should I call him? I'm gonna call him just in case,” Kuroo pulls out his phone and dials Kenma's number.

Kenma picks up immediately, “Kuroo?”

“Hi Kenma,” he chuckles nervously, now feeling dumb for worrying as he bites the inside of his lip, “I just wanted to make sure that you're okay, since that storm is pretty bad.”

“O-oh, yeah I'm fine, Yaku-kun said I might have to stay the night because of the storm,” Kenma's blushing on the other line, his thumb had been hovering over the call button for at least two hours, but he hadn't wanted to bother Kuroo, Lev finally convinced him to call but as it turns out, Kuroo beat him to it.

“I could come get you,” he offers immediately.

“No way, do you see how bad it is outside? You would get soaked down to the bone if you tried to come get me, and I don't want you to get sick.”

“Oh I would be fine, I could just use my magic and evaporate all the water before it could touch me.”

”Keeping the flames that would be encasing all of your body hot enough to not get put out by the rain would be exhausting,” he deadpans.

Kuroo sighs, “alright fine, you got me there. I guess have fun sleeping over at Yaku-san's place, don't stay up too late.”

Kenma lightly chuckles, “You can be sure I won't stay up late, Yaku would never let me.”

Kuroo exhales what could've been a laugh from his nose, “well then goodnight, Kenma.”

“Goodnight, Kuroo.” he hangs up and presses a hand to his warm cheeks.

Kuroo smiles pleasantly down at his phone for a long moment, “your face looks like a cherry,” monotonously says Tsukki, effectively ruining the moment while Bokuto snorts in amusement.

“Oh shut up, string bean.”

 

Kenma falls asleep on the floor of Yaku's room in a sleeping bag, the rain pounding against the window is a strangely comforting noise to him and he's lulled into a state of drowsiness, he feels cold though, he misses the usual warmth against his back, he misses Kuroo, the guy was like a furnace at night.

Recently, Akaashi and Kuroo stopped taking turns warding away his nightmares because somehow Kuroo managed to convince Akaashi, which only makes the absence of Kuroo more noticeable.

Kenma really should start carrying around a warmth charm for situations like this one.

Kenma turns away from the window and curls further into himself, staring at the floorboards of Yaku's room and hearing nothing but the soft breathing of his friends that's almost drowned out by the striking of rain against the window.

Kenma's eyes become heavy and he hears the loud crashing of thunder that should've lit up the entire sky with white as he closed his eyes, it should've lit up the sky but Kenma did not miss the shadow that covered most of the light that should've been casted down in front of him by the window. It makes the hair on the back of Kenma's neck stand on end as his eyes snap open and he quickly sits up, bristling with anxiety, because he had a clear view of the sky before when he looked through the window, there was nothing that could cause a shadow near the window.

Kenma turns his head, he see nothing but the dark grey and angry sky raining down upon the Earth. Kenma rubs his eyes with the palms of his pale hands, there was nothing there. The winds out there are pretty strong, it was probably something being blown past the window; Kenma sighs, he's too paranoid. Just so that he can eliminate the last of his nerves uses his anima to search for other life, and besides Yaku and Lev, he finds nothing.

Kenma frowns and debates playing on his psp until he falls asleep but Kuroo's voice rings in his mind, “have fun sleeping over at Yaku-san's place, don't stay up too late.” Kenma takes one last look at the window before laying back down and trying to sleep.

He feels cold and there's still just a prick of worry in the back of his mind, but he falls asleep maybe ten minutes before twelve. Kenma falls asleep, and he sees things he did not wish to see ever again. This time, they are more vivid. 

He looks up and he's in a different location, he's in some dirty ally and a young boy with chocolate brown hair sits leaning against the wall of an old building, he's clutching something around his neck for dear life. Kenma feels like an on looker who's not truly there, but he feels the boy's panic, the boy's terror, he's hyperventilating and he's scared for reasons that aren't his own.

He blinks and now he is running away from a building, he refuses to look behind him because there's chaos all around, he can hear it, screams and shouts of innocent people and creatures alike, blasts of magic light up the darkness from the corners of his eyes and he dares not look around as his feet stumble in the dark; it is night, but there is something so utterly wrong about this darkness. Something big is happening and Kenma's lips carry the metallic taste of blood, Kuroo is running in front of him, their hands are clasped together, Kuroo says things that Kenma cannot hear as he leads him further away. Kenma wipes away blood that's dribbling from his nose with his sleeve, staining his school clothes.

Panic further wells up in his throat because now he's seeing Kuroo leave with the man in the dead of night again and he's choking on words that aren't there because Kuroo is leaving with the man he saw at the circus, the man he thought imagined at the store, his green hair almost looks brown in the darkness and him eyes are not to be trusted for one second.

Why does Kuroo look so sad?

Kenma wakes up wave after wave of fear piles up on top of him and his legs hurt, through choked sobs and panicked breaths he instinctively yells out a name, “K-Kuroo!” 

 

While the room where most of the familiars sleep is very cozy, Kuroo just wasn't feeling it, because as nice as cuddling with two owls while in familiar form was for the first hour, he just kinda felt something was missing,which led to promptly padding off to Kenma's bed to sleep in it, he had just grown so used to the bed it didn't quite feel right to sleep somewhere else— or at least, that was the excuse he was telling himself.

This is the first time he's been in the bed shirtless, the sheets feel foreign but soft against his back and his arms get goosebumps— strange, he's usually never cold— but then again, usually Kenma's here with him.

about 3am when Kuroo is rudely awoken by the ringing of his phone. A groan rips through him and he covers his ears with his pillow, hoping the offending phone will just pipe down. Unfortunately, the ringing persists and Kuroo rolls over to the other side of Kenma's bed, towards the nightstand where his phone sits and plucks up the phone without reading who's calling, he yawns as he drowsily answers, “hello?”

“Kuroo-san, oh good you finally answered,” it's Yaku, his voice is filled with urgency and some anxiety too, “Kouzume had one of those ‘nightmares’ again and he's having a panic attack.”

Kuroo had sprung out of bed to get dressed the second Yaku mentioned 'nightmares', “try to keep him calm, I'm on my way,” says Kuroo as he throws on a shirt and shoes.

“What? You can't come here, it's pouring out there! Just talk to him over the phone.” Reasons Yaku.

“It doesn't matter, I'll be there soon,” Kuroo ends the call before shoving his phone into his pocket as he rushes down the stairs, there's no time to tell anyone where he's going.

Kuroo charges outside running as fast as his legs will allow, the icy cold rain soaks into his clothes and crawls down his back, giving him chills, Kuroo still doesn't slow down for a moment; he's thankful that he remembers the way to Yaku's house from the previous time he walked Kenma there.

Kuroo's clothes feel heavy and stick to his skin uncomfortably, but he doesn't bother using his magic to dry himself, he would exhaust his magic too much before he could even make it to Yaku's house,starting a fire and keeping it lit in the middle of a downpour isn't the easiest task, so, he'll just dry himself when he gets to Yaku's house.

His usually wild hair sticks wet to his skull and he doesn't even get to knock on the door because Lev opens it immediately, standing back for a moment, Kuroo quickly uses his magic to dry himself and Lev leads him to the living room where Kenma is, Kenma didn’t want to be in Yaku's room and now sits on the living room’s carpeted floor hyperventilating with Yaku crouched beside him, rubbing his back and doing his best to try and calm him.

It's very worrying to see Kenma like this but Kuroo does his best to make sure his demeanor is calm, “Kenma?” He kneels down next to Kenma, “it's me, Kuroo. I know you had another 'nightmare’, it's gonna be okay.”

Kenma looks up at Kuroo through short breaths and bleary eyes, his hand latches onto Kuroo's wrist immediately and shakily starts rambling, “p-please don't leave, I-I just— I-I can't— m-my legs hurt—”

Kuroo holds Kenma's shaking hand in his own warm ones, “hey, it's alright, I'm not going anywhere. I'm right here, you're going to be fine, it'll be okay.” Kuroo gently moves to hug Kenma and Kenma buries his face into Kuroo's shirt, clutching the fabric with his shaking hands, “I need you to breathe, okay? Just breathe, you're gonna be okay,” Kuroo rubs his back gently.

Kenma begins trying to do as instructed, and little by little, his breathing slows down to a normal pace. Yaku backs up and spectates with Lev by the door, breathing a sigh of relief now that Kenma has started to calm a bit.

By the time the last of his hiccups leave his mouth and the two sit hugging in silence with nothing but unspoken words in between them, Yaku quietly mouths a, “thank you,” to Kuroo and slips away with Lev without a sound.

Minutes pass and they are both silent, finding comfort in warm gossamer touches until Kenma speaks up, finally breaking the stillness, “thank you.” It's soft and hushed, but it still has a lot of meaning.

“Anytime,” smiles Kuroo.

Kenma hesitates speaking again but he needs to know, “…do you remember what you promised me?”

Kuroo softly chuckles, “of course I do, I'm here aren't I?”

Kenma feels great solace knowing for sure that Kuroo remembers.

The smell of lavender and cinnamon tea tickles Kuroo's nose while he enjoys the feeling of warmth that he hard been missing all night.

Love.

The word pops into his head when he least expects it and it feels like the world has stopped spinning, hell, maybe his realization actually has made the Earth stop spinning.

Kuroo feels love. He loves this short dork he's hugging at the moment and has absolutely no idea what to do about it, he's loved Kenma for a while, but it's only now that he has a name to finally label the feeling. It'll cause stress later for sure, but at the moment, he just wants to feel happy, no more thinking for now.

 

The next morning Yaku and Lev found Kenma and Kuroo both sleeping on the couch, it may have been cramped, but it was the most comfy and warm spot either of them had slept in all night.

They didn't get to sleep in for very long though, because Kuroo got a call from Suga severely scolding him for just disappearing off in the middle of the night to who knows where.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kuroo is shook tbh
> 
> Also, were you wondering who that boy with chocolate brown hair in Kenma's dream was? Well spoiler alert, it's Oikawa, so sURPRISE LMAO NOW THERE'S AN IWAOI FANFIC THAT TAKES PLACE IN THE SAME UNIVERSE AS THIS FIC!1!! It's called Anathema and technically it takes place before this one does, so if you like Iwaoi and want the plot to actually make sense a lot later on then check it out ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi I'm not dead I promise, school and a semi social life are using most of my free time

Akaashi and Suga had been planning a surprise visit to the park for a month now, all the house familiars were going to tag along for a fun but hectic time, and the food and drinks had already been packed ahead of time, Suga announced it to everyone in the morning and received several reactions that ranged from pure unadulterated excitement from Hinata to a non-committal shrug from Tsukki. It was great, until Akaashi and Suga quickly realized Kuroo was missing.

Cue Suga chewing him out over the phone for running off last night without telling anyone, that is, until Kuroo explained how he left in order to aid Kenma in dealing with his panic attack. Kenma and Kuroo would be coming back soon, but once Akaashi heard about the panic attack, he began to anxiously gnaw at his lip, Suga wasn't given much detail to relay to Akaashi, so what had happened? What pushed Kenma over the edge like that? There were too many options to choose from, did someone say something to him? What if he saw a demon— or had he been hiding his stress too well and he finally broke? Too many what ifs and not enough details for Akaashi to narrow it down yet. Akaashi had been staring down at the table with furrowed eyebrows completely out of it, he was supposed to be doing a few last-minute chores but instead he was seated, gnawing on the corner of his bottom lip harder now, his calm and put together mask can fool a lot of people, but not Bokuto. 

Bokuto knows better after six centuries.

His takes a seat next to Akaashi and gently puts his hand over Akaashi's clenched fist. His large calloused hand is rough against Akaashi's softer one, but that reassuring touch of Bokuto's hand snaps Akaashi out of it and he whips his head up at Bo, finally taking a break from worrying his teeth against the sore flesh of his lips. Bokuto’s confidence when it comes to certain things is unshakable, especially when it comes to Akaashi, and that has always given him reassurance when he needs it the most. Bokuto's voice is an octave lower than usual, knowing just what to say, “he’s okay, Keiji, he's with Kuroo.”

A rivulet of crimson glides down Akaash lip from the broken skin and he stays silent, preferring to sigh out of his nose instead and finally unclench his fist, closing his eyes for a moment before meeting his beloved’s amber yellow eyes. “You're right,” he exhales, leaning into Bokuto's strong shoulders, his voice reserved as usual.

Bokuto wipes the small streak of blood off of Akaashi with his thumb before pressing a gentle kiss to his swollen lips, “I can't kiss you very well if I'm worried about hurting your lip.”

Akaashi cracks a smile and stops himself from snorting, he touches noses with Bokuto and loosely loops his arms around Bo’s neck, “it didn't hurt, it felt fine.”

“But it has to be better than fine,” he insists, craning his neck down a tad to steal another kiss as Akaashi loosely snakes his arms around Bokuto's neck, “was that one better?”

Akaashi rolls his beryl eyes but indulges Bo regardless with a tiny smile of amusement, “sure.” 

“Sure? That's it? That's all you have to say?” He whines.

A small chuckle bubbles from Akaashi's lips, “alright alright, it was wonderful. Is that better?”

Bokuto's lips widen into a toothy grin, “thank you,” he hums, “bet’cha feel better now, right?”

Akaashi sighs with resign, “I must admit, I do feel better.” He pulls back and lets his warm hands fall onto Bokuto's colder ones, “you were right, I'm sure Kenma-san is okay, he's with Kuroo after all.”

“How much longer until they— you know— tell each other about that whole thing?” Wonders Bokuto, thinking Akaashi might be able to tell.

Akaashi releases a breath of laughter, “well Kuroo already dropped everything and ran to help Kenma in the midst of a thunderstorm in the dead of night, so it can't be much longer now. Surely they've both realized it by now— at least, I hope, I don't know how much longer Tsukishima-san will be able to stand them staring at each other if they don't say something soon.” 

Bokuto laughs, “Kuroo still hadn't known it yesterday, you think something's changed?”

“Maybe.” Akaashi stands up slowly, “there are still a few things I need to finish up before Kuroo and Kenma get back,” Akaashi bends down and kisses Bokuto's forehead as they part, that owl is too good for him.

Kuroo and Kenma arrive a little bit later, both of their faces are flushed, Akaashi and Bokuto would've chalked it up to the heat if it weren't for the fact that a pyromancer would never be bothered by some summer heat.

“Suga-san said we were going to the park over the phone, right?” Asks Kenma's slumped figure, cooling his body off on the couch.

Akaashi nods in confirmation and Kenma grimaces, “don't worry, we'll bring plenty of water and some parasols to keep cool.” There's a moment of silence, “what happened last night, Kenma?” Asks Akaashi softly.

“I… I don't… I'm not too sure, honestly. I had another nightmare and I didn't even fully understand it but it just scared me so much and I woke up and I just…” he trails off. Akaashi knew this wasn't the first or last time, Kenma had been plagued with having nightmares that caused panic attacks for years, it's the whole reason he sleeps in the presence of a pyromancer after all, but no one can tell exactly why they're always so horrible for Kenma to experience in comparison to other nightmares. “I’ll go change, it's really hot out there,” says Kenma, heaving himself up.

Akaashi speaks up just before Kenma leaves the room, “ah, Kenma?”

“Yeah?”

“I'm glad you're okay, and I'm relieved that Kuroo was there for you.”

Kenma pauses, his face hidden, “me too.” So maybe Kenma finally did catch on.

 

Akaashi can tell it's an arduous journey to the park for Kenma, which is attributed to the awful heat, and interestingly enough, Kuroo seems to be walking at just the right pace to keep his shadow falling on Kenma at all times.

Tsukishima leans to the right and mutters to Yamaguchi, “honestly, how much longer until those two discuss the thing with them? The romantic tension between them is bigger than the sun itself.”

Akaashi represses a snort after overhearing him, it seems the only ones oblivious to their feelings for each other are Kenma and Kuroo; even in this sticky heat Kenma is standing closer to Kuroo than any other person would.

Bokuto mutters close to Akaashi’s ear, “Kuroo told me that before he ran to help Kenma last night, he was having a nightmare.” Bo frowns, “didn't say much about it, but… there was a lot of fire, it wasn't the first time he's had that nightmare, and the face he made when he said it…” Bokuto trails off.

“He looked pained, didn't he?” Bokuto nods with a sad grimace. Akaashi knew one thing all too well from being demon familiar, that new found purity within will eat up almost every waking moment with guilt; having a conscious all of a sudden is way too much to bear with all alone. It's never just one thing, it's all the horrible actions from the past piled up on top of each other. Akaashi's saving grace all that time ago had been Bokuto, he'd been foolishly hoping that Kuroo had what it took to deal with the guilt in a healthy manner, but he knows it had been too good to be true. “I'll talk with him when I get the chance.”

Kuroo's a real good faker, or maybe, he just procrastinates confronting his emotions and ignores them constantly, ah who's he fooling, it's probably both isn't it?

Upon reaching the park, almost everyone scatters, heading for the open fields or the swings or just a place to sit under some much needed shade from the sun while Suga, Daichi, Bokuto, Kuroo, and Akaashi stay back to set up their quaint picnic area. Bokuto and Kuroo sword fight with parasols meant to be shade for the picnic blankets while Akaashi, Daichi, and Suga do actual work and set up the picnic.

Predictably, Bokuto's parasol gets knocked from his hand and goes flying in a direction that narrowly misses Daichi’s face, Kuroo and Bokuto look like two wide eyed pets that just broke something on accident, and Akaashi's withering look and twitching eyebrow tells them it's time to put the parasols where they belong.

With everything in place Kuroo immediately leaves to join Kenma in the shade, finally, Akaashi has an opportunity for some nice time with Bokuto that won't be rushed or cut short, so might as well make the most of it. Akaashi loosely interlaces his fingers with a distracted Bokuto, tugging him in the direction of a tall tree.

With a flourishing puff of colored smoke Akaashi and Bo fly up to the top of the tree in their familiar owl forms. Later, Lev and Yaku meet up with Kenma after receiving a text from Kenma complaining about the heat. Hinata’s small dog form chases Nishinoya’s speedy woodpecker form, he's one of the smallest woodpeckers anyone will ever see with a yellow streak of feathers on his head, Hinata lets out short barks as he runs after him while Yachi’s tiny and cute bat familiar form chirps worriedly behind them. Kuroo lounges lazily in Kenma’s lap in his fuzzy black cat form, stretching and exposing the wild fur on his underbelly, light but long and jagged scars barely visible, while Kenma talks with Lev and Yaku under the same tree he's been sitting at since he arrived.

Akaashi overlooks the expanse of the park, his round and beryl eyes catching everything. White feathers with flecks of gray and black that are not his own press against his body, it’s Bokuto, sitting next to him. The great horned owl is much larger than him, but he still looks adorable in Akaashi’s eyes despite his intimidating stature. 

Suga’s endearing laugh can be heard from afar as Dachi shows an amiable display of affection by setting a flower in his hair. It seems Nishinoya— not flapping his tiny woodpecker wings for once— sits on top of an unusually large capybara’s head, Asahi. Akaashi’s malachite colored eyes now see Hinata rough housing with Tanaka as a komodo dragon which looks pretty funny to Bokuto. Akaashi doesn't know how he does it, that orange haired familiar truely does have boundless amounts of energy. 

The brightness of the day almost hurts Akaashi and Bokuto's owl eyes, but they can take it, there's a slight breeze up there around the top of the tree, down on the ground, Akaashi can see the others beginning to head over to the picnic area. Akaashi lightly elbows Bokuto with his wing, signaling Bokuto to look down, and as soon as the sight of food being magically warmed up is spotted by the taller owl’s eye he's speeding towards the ground, desperate to get there before anyone else while Akaashi makes his decent at a much slower pace. The only thing that even comes close to Bokuto's love for Akaashi is probably his love for food, which is quite apparent right now as he’s already on the ground and stacking item after item of food onto his plate.

“Look, I love food, but that…” Kuroo trails off as he leans against a tree next to Akaashi in his humanoid form and watches Bokuto totally pig out.

Akaashi chuckles, “is too much, I know. No one I've met in my 600 years of living has ever matched up to Bokuto's colossal appetite. He manages to contain himself during regular meals, but when it's a free for all like this, well, you can see the result.”

“Well I should probably go get some more for later before Bo inhales it all,” laughs Kuroo, pushing himself off of the tree he'd been leaning on.

“Ah, before you go, are you sure you're okay?”

“Kuroo furrows his eyebrows in slight confusion, “what do you mean?”

“Well, I heard you weren't having the best sleep last night before you rushed to Yaku-san's house.”

Kuroo tries to mask the realization dawning on his face, “o-oh. Yeah I'm fine, it's nothing to worry about.” He gives Akaashi the most convincing grin he can muster and Akaashi grimaces, not truly buying it, “seriously, I'm okay,” Kuroo repeats.

That's a lie, there's too much guilt hiding behind Kuroo's smile, but Akaashi knows now is not the moment to press on, “alright,” he says with reluctance, “but remember I've stood where you stand now, and I'm here to help, we all are.”

Kuroo's smile this time is a small but real one, “thanks.”

Kuroo's a good actor, but not a perfect one. However, Kuroo sitting cross-legged under the trees, nagging at Tsukki for not eating enough and desperately trying to be nonchalant about how he's leaning into Kenma's smaller hunched over body is real, and for these small snapshots of time, Kuroo can forget his troubles in favor and something better, if only for just a moment. They're not gone, Kuroo knows that, and Akaashi knows that, it's the moments when he's alone are when his thoughts will bleed him dry… but, he'll push that deep down to the pit of his stomach so he can feel okay for Kenma.

Akaashi knows, he remembers feeling it, and it worries him. Worrying won't fix anything, only action will, so he'll act and do all he can. A long conversation awaits them, maybe not today, and maybe not tomorrow, but Kuroo can't out run it forever. But for this short moment, Akaashi will let Kuroo pretend he's fine, and Kuroo will pretend he's fine because being anything less would make him an even greater burden, and Kuroo can't stand that.

Hinata and Kageyama both fall out of the tree Kuroo, Kenma, Tsukki, and Yamaguchi sit under with loud thumps, and Kuroo snorts, successfully preventing that train of thought to go any further at the moment, “9/10 splash from chibi-chan, what do you think, Megane-kun?”

“If we’re lucky then maybe they've hit their heads hard enough to forget how to speak,” sinkers Tsukki, with Yamaguchi quickly following along. That remark quickly makes Hinata jump from his spot on the floor so he and Kageyama can butt heads with Tsukishima as per usual.

Akaashi and Bokuto share a look between them and agree to walk the park’s forest trail together, Bokuto reluctantly parts with the table of food and walks together with Akaashi towards the trail.

Bokuto squeezes Akaashi's delicate hand, after all this time that lopsided grin that Bokuto gets on his face still makes Akaashi melt. Walking down the trail, they're finally sheltered by the green canopy, not that the heat was bothering Akaashi, Bokuto didn't complain either, but the beads of sweat trailing his body gave it away to Akaashi. “Do you remember that time shortly after we first met?” Questions Akaashi, “navigating that dense forest had been impossible for me,” he chuckles, “and me being the stubborn demon that I was, refused to let you help, even though I knew it was the only way either of us would get out of there.” It was a long time ago that Akaashi had first met Bokuto, Akaashi had been a cruel, cold eyed demon that had committed many atrocities without a thought, and then he found himself in a situation where he was no longer a demon; he struggled to stay demonic, but his resolve ultimately crumpled under the wholesomeness and purity of Bokuto’s personality.

Bokuto laughs, “you came around and let me help eventually.”

Akaashi snorts, “only after an entire sleepless night, though. It's ridiculous how prideful I was then.”

The air is dry and hot but the shade of the trail’s green canopy provides gracious aid to Bokuto. His sweaty palm holds Akaashi's ever warm ones as their shoulders lightly bump into each other's, having sweaty hands might've been embarrassing once upon a time, but neither of them care about that now, “you were willing to change though, even if you refused to admit it at first,” hums Bokuto.

“Reminds me of someone we know now, don't you think?” Akaashi raises an eyebrow.

Bokuto nods, “Kuroo.”

“In the very beginning, he was using us, I'm sure. Somehow though, you have a talent for spotting demon familiars with the potential to become pure,” Akaashi cracks a smile and Bokuto places a peck on his cheek.

“It's just a natural talent,” Bokuto grins.

Akaashi leaned into the touch but his smile slipped off of his face rather quickly, “I worry that Kuroo's ignoring all the guilt… it doesn't go away with ease, and pushing it back down only makes it that much more worse,” he murmurs, “he can't and won't allow his heart to forgive himself; he won't be able to for a very long time.”

Bokuto frowns at the clear memories of how broken Akaashi had felt back then and there's a small stretch of silence. Bokuto squeezes Akaashi's hand with his own, “but that's why we're here, right?” Asks Bokuto, hoping to pick up the mood, “we'll be there when he needs us to be, we'll listen when he needs us to listen and speak when he needs us to give advice, he's strong, we'll get him through with Kenma-kun’s help.”

“Generally people think I'm supposed to be the wise one, Kou, you're getting it all wrong.”

A smile crawls onto Bokuto's lips once more, “oops, my bad.”

“You're so cute,” mutters Akaashi, looking to the side.

“Yeah but you're beautiful,” says Bokuto looking at Akaashi, nothing but love in his golden eyes.

It's burning hot outside, but the heat that radiates from their fingertips feels wonderful, and invisible to the the eyes of most unless you look for them, two anima tinted different shades of gold lean on each other, there's one that's a more a pure gold to match Bokuto's eyes, and the other, that carries a hint of copper in its hue, is Akaashi's. It leaves a pleasant feeling that wells up in both their throats, neither of them could ever get tired of the feeling, because it feels like home.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> merry christmas <3

Kuroo stares blankly at the dining room wall of his old home, not fully registering how impossible it all is. Without having to look in a mirror Kuroo already knows he's 14, two hushed voices speak in a separate room, his mother and a messenger bringing news of his father. He sits on the ground clenching and unclenching his fists in his lap in front of a simple dark wood table, his father left for war again. Kuroo wants to be angry, his dad left them again while his mother is pregnant, but he knows it's not like his father could've easily refused, family honor and what not.

Kuroo scowls down as his hands, but all thoughts are cast aside when he hears his mother enter the room, long black hair that frames her pale face and falls over her back and green eyes that Kuroo envy's, he never liked that he had his father's eyes. Her hands gently rest on her large stomach, she's due any day now, but her eyes are on him, the air around her always radiated elegance, and even now as she was about to tell Kuroo how has father was going to be gone for quite some time her lips held a playful smile, determined to turn any situation light hearted, no matter how sad it truly was.

However, the words never came, and the expression on his mother's face twisted into one of hate and malice, her smile contorts into a wretched glowering look, “it's your fault.”

Anxiety swells in Kuroo's throat, unfurling it's tendrils and wrapping around every part of his being within, threatening to suffocate him. Kuroo wrenches his mouth open to speak even though he feels as if he's going to puke, “w-what?” He croaks, throat suddenly like sandpaper.

His eyes flicker down and he realizes he's 19 again, he looks back up at his mother and she's covered in soot and ash, even now the embers of fire burn at the tips of her hair and fingers.

Accusing shadows flicker at the corners of his eyes and Kuroo starts panicking, in the blink of an eye his mother is gone and he's now outside on a dark night illuminated by orange flickering light; this is wrong. Kuroo sees the crackling flames licking hungrily at the wood of his own home, the feeling of deja vu painfully slams into his skull and he wants to sink to his knees, not again. He can't do this he's not strong enough to live through this moment but he moves forward against his own volition, as if it's not really him moving his body any more and he's merely trapped within, watching helplessly.

What about his little sister? Kuroo remembers her and feels disgusting, it doesn't matter the outcome, how dare he falter, how dare he not risk his very life to save her. “All your fault,” whispers a voice deep within Kuroo's mind; Kuroo loathes himself so much in the moment, that he agrees.

Kuroo's rushes into his burning home and the thick acrid smell of smoke almost knocks out the little about of air left in his wheezing lungs. He's nearly blinded by the toxic smuir of black curling smoke rushing past him and pouring outside in billowing waves, but he pushes forward, through watering eyes he can see that his mother's room has been completely consumed in the inferno, it's impossible for anyone in there is alive, but he can swear he sees a human outline, someone standing there unmoving, allowing the raging infernos to consume them.

Kuroo lunges forward, a hand reaching out to her— his mother covered head to toe in soot, her green eyes piercing through him, “it's all your fault!” She screeches, the orange flames licking at her skin and Kuroo stumbles back, falling to the ground and choking on his own tongue. The guilt that taunts him is all encompassing, threatening to pull Kuroo into the ground, but he bites his tongue so hard it draws out the taste of metal but Kuroo pushes himself up to his calloused feet forcing himself to look away from his mother's room, though he can still feel her scrutinizing gaze on his back as he runs, heart beating against his chest with such strength it feels like his chest is bruising. His lungs sting and his eyes are burning as his breathing stutters and leaves him wheezing as the putrid smoke circles through his lungs with pain in his chest, but he still runs, foolishly hoping that he can save his sister

‘She's so young… please,’ deja vu leaves his ears ringing as soon as he thinks the words. The black smoke blinds Kuroo and he crashes right into something, spitting blood as his head pulses with pain; an after effect from hitting the floor. Still sprawled out on the ground a face hovers over him, blurry at first but it comes into focus quickly; it's himself.

It's himself but there is something so utterly wrong and a primal fear stirs deep within Kuroo, it's himself but the eyes are all wrong, no iris and no cornea, nothing at all, just two eyes void of any light or color and black emptiness that has no end. “It's like looking right into a mirror, isn't it?” Kuroo's own voice sounds from his double, a sardonic grin on his lips, “sorry,” the double feints an apologetic tone, “but I'm not gonna be moving out of the way.”

Kuroo's nails digging into the floor as he heaves himself into a sitting position, he's never felt more uncomfortable in his own skin as he does now, peering up at his lookalike, Kuroo swallows hot air, barely even registering his cotton mouth as he croaks out his next words, “I-I have to get past, I have to—”

“You have to what?” Snaps his double, the ferocity in his voice frightening, “you have to save your poor little sister?” He snarls, “the one terrified and crying in the room just behind me?” the heartless copy of Kuroo chuckles, “buddy that ship has sailed; you're too late, about 300 fucking years too late.”

Kuroo's blood runs cold, it hurts to speak but that's the least of his worries, “wh-what? No that's not right please just let me get past, I-I have to get through—” Kuroo's interrupted by his lookalike once more.

“Don't you get it? You dumb piece of shit she's dead and it's your fault!” He yells now, the fires all around consuming the house grow impossibly taller.

“N-no that can't be, I—” the raging heat of the inferno all around him doesn't bother him in the slightest right now, what's truly scaring Kuroo is the despair threatening to swallow him whole, and his copy can see it on his face, lips shifting into a blood curdling grin made all the more terrifying by the inky blackness that obscures the double's eyes.

“Honestly, how selfish can you be?” Taunts the copy, towering over Kuroo's place on the ground, “what's one dead little girl when you killed thousands of people— human and not— over the decades?”

Kuroo wants to run away, to cover his ears and pretend like the monster in front of him isn't there, but he feels paralyzed, unable to say or do anything, all he can do is sit with wide eyes gazing up at his lookalike and force himself to keep his head above the invisible turbulent oceans of guilt that threaten to drown him. “You feel remorseful now, but you enjoyed every second of it. Every person you skinned alive and tortured, you did it all with a grin on your face. Go— run and hide from the unfeeling monster you see in front of you, I dare you to try. You know you can't though, because I'm just waiting for you to realize that I never left you, I'm still right here.” The demon shoves an accusing finger against Kuroo's chest.

 

Kuroo awakens with a gasp for air, as if his lungs had been horribly deprived of fresh oxygen. Kuroo's doused in sweat and as the last of his sleepy daze leaves him he can almost hear the sound of hissing and crackling flames disappearing into the cool late night air. Not thinking, Kuroo tosses the blanket off his overheated body and pulls his now uncomfortably sweaty and wet night shirt off his back. “Kuroo?” He tenses at hearing his name be whispered, fearing that this is just another sick part of his dream— though the dream is already beginning to fade from his memory by a bit— before realizing the voice came from besides him, it's Kenma. Kuroo looks down at Kenma, inwardly scolding himself for being so careless as to wake him up. “W-what are you doing?” Kenma stutters as his eyes glance down at Kuroo's bare torso, gleaming with sweat in the dim moonlight filtering through the window and Kuroo promptly feels his cheeks flush in embarrassment, and though it's hard to tell since Kenma's pale face is bathed in shadows, Kuroo swears he can barely see pink dusting Kenma's cheeks.

“I-I was just—“ Kuroo finds it rather daunting to explain himself for some unknown reason, “I-I woke up and it was really hot, so I took off my shirt. I forgot that you were here too I’ll put it back on,” Kuroo fumbles through his words as his hands blindly grope the sheets in search of his shirt but Kenna interrupts.

“N-no you don’t have to do that,” Kuroo freezes, “w-well you said you were hot, right?” Kuroo nods mutely, “I don’t want to make you have to fall asleep all sweaty and gross, so it’s fine.” Kuroo blinks a few times before nodding dubiously, not trusting himself to speak. 

They sit in awkward silence, neither willing to go back to bed but neither sure what to say, “I was having a dream before I woke up,” blurts out Kuroo, regretting the words as soon as they leave his mouth.

“Oh? What were you dreaming about?” Asks Kenma, dubiously following along into the new topic.

Kuroo flops onto his back, “nothing.”

Kenma doesn’t buy it at all, and for good reason. The growing lump in Kuroo‘s throat does nothing to help him try to shove away thoughts of his dream into the dark corner of his mind. It’s all so fuzzy yet perfectly clear at the same time, the burning embers and the malice in the voice that spoke to him of the chaotic being he once was; it made Kuroo feel sick.

Kenma places a docile hand on Kuroo’s white knuckled fist and immediately Kuroo stops clenching his fist, suddenly aware of his behavior, and for a moment, he almost looks panicked, like Kenma shouldn’t be seeing him in such a state. “Kuroo,” he mutters, “what’s wrong? do you want to talk about it?” Kenma asks, knowing that such matters can be quite prickly and sometimes it’s best to not to persist, no matter how much he might want to. But, at the very least, he has to try, after everything Kuroo’s done for him he must at least try to help Kuroo like he’s helped Kenma, he owes Kuroo that much. So when Kuroo lays there looking up at Kenma debating with himself so hard it looks like he’s in pain Kenma just sits there patiently. 

“I… I’ve done so many terrible things. I’ve hurt people— a lot of people. Too many people. I was so horrible, I… I was a monster,” Kuroo’s thoughts begin snowballing faster than his mouth can keep up with, “but then things changed and I found you and I could feel this horrible sense of disgust in the pit of my stomach and I realized that it was directed towards myself. I was a demon, Kenma. I killed because it was fun, I destroyed entire families and ruined lives on a daily basis— I—” Kuroo chokes up and forces himself to stop speaking. In the illumination of the moonlight Kuroo’s eyes that shimmer with so many emotions almost look green.

“I know,” is all Kenma says, and Kuroo’s eyes go wide. 

“W-what?”

“I know, Tetsu.” Says Kenma again, his voice soft, “I figured it out not long after you arrived. I may have never seen a demon familiar’s anima before, but I knew there was something dark and twisted tainting you— and as foolish as this sounds, I don’t care.”

Kuroo’s speechless, the lump in his throat now there for an entirely different reason. How could someone as amazing and wonderful as Kenma be able to look past all that and still see good in him when Kuroo couldn’t even do the same for himself? It simply didn’t make sense. Kuroo’s calloused fingers grip the sheets beneath his palms and he tries and fails to push back his emotions, so many emotions.

In the silence of the night, Kenma swears Kuroo can hear his heartbeat. He chews on his lip, eyes flickering in a random direction as he quickly thinks over something before looking back up at Kuroo. Kenma lifts himself up from where he sits and scoots over to Kuroo’s right side and wraps a thin arm around Kuroo, leaning against Kuroo’s side Kenma’s voice is just barely above a whisper, “it’s okay to cry if you want.”

Looking back on it, Kuroo wishes he’d leaned into Kenma’s warm touch more. He honestly wishes that moment of their two bodies being connected through warm comforting touches would’ve lasted forever; though nothing can last forever, in that moment amidst the darkness of night, the air still, crickets chirping outside, the sound of their breaths, and the smell of lavender and cinnamon tea… it almost did feel like forever.

Kenma’s grip tightens a little and Kuroo sees the shorter male giving him an almost pained look— why? Then Kuroo realizes it’s because of the scalding tear Kuroo didn’t even realize had escaped, he panics and moves away, it’s too soon and his heart aches at the loss of contact, “I-I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be—“ Kenma stops him.

“it’s okay Kuroo. I know you don’t believe me but it’s okay.” Kenma’s hand reaches out but then drops back down, like he was going to wipe Kuroo’s tear but lost courage.

“I just can’t, Kenma. I can’t look at myself and feel like i deserve this, any of this— let alone you.” Kuroo looks down at Kenma with eyes so terribly sorrowful and worn out it looked like Kuroo’s 293 years of living all caught up to him in that moment, and hell, maybe it had.

Kenma’s pulse stuttered, “then… then until you can I’ll believe it enough for the both of us.” There were more words on the top of Kenma’s tongue, so close, desperate to be heard, but he didn’t say them. “You can’t be so hard on yourself, dork.” Kenma gives Kuroo a small smile, hoping the term of endearment will help, and it does, as Kuroo returns it with a small smile of his own.

“You’re going to be exhausted tomorrow.” Warns Kuroo.

“Like you’re not?”

“Fair enough.” It not gone, but the pain has been dulled for now, pushed away to the back of his mind again; it’ll return, but Kuroo can’t let himself think about that right now, not when Kenma’s hug is so warm.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to all my loyal readers who’ve put up with my bullshit and erratic updating schedule!!

The morning is unkind to Kuroo, the sun is far too obnoxiously bright for his horribly sleep deprived eyes to handle and as soon as his hazel irises can see the white roof of Kenma’s room the air in his chest quickly solidifies into a stone that compacts itself into any crevice throughout his lungs’ every passageway, soon beginning to try and claw its way up his throat too. 

Kuroo’s adam’s apple bobs uncomfortably and the horrid and unforgiving scent of charcoal colored smoke hangs in his nose. Kuroo’s unsure how much time goes by as he’s staring up at the ceiling, the seeds of melancholy thoughts germinating in his mind, had it been minutes? an hour or two? 

Kenma begins to stir a little and Kuroo tries to ignore his feelings in favor of letting his eyes hover over the other man’s form. It isn’t quite common to sleep in the same bed as your best friend when there are plenty of other places to sleep instead, is it?

Then why does Kenma let it continue?

A minuscule but hopeful question forces itself through the cracks despite Kuroo’s best efforts, ‘could it be because he has some sort of feelings for you?’ Kuroo rejects it immediately, that’s utterly ridiculous, he can’t let his emotions interfere with his thinking. ‘what if though? there were some things said and memories you can’t just easily explain away with him only thinking of you as a close friend.’ Kuroo bites his tongue, hard.

‘Don’t set yourself up for disappointment like this. You don’t deserve him and he doesn’t see you like that anyways.’ Kuroo’s mind flashes through several memories. ‘Do friends make such intimate promises late at night? Do friends cuddle in the same bed together? Do friends touch anima…?’ Kuroo’s throat feels so tight he has to manually force himself to keep on breathing. As clear as day, he remembers the pleasant smell tickling Kuroo’s senses that night not too long ago, Kenma’s warm pale skin against his own… how calm everything felt… and for a fraction of a second the memory dispels the bitter recollection of smoke in favor of something far more pleasant.

As quick as the bittersweet pang of feelings came it’s gone and anger flares within Kuroo— definitely not directed at Kenma, no, he feels angry at himself. Kuroo honestly has no fucking idea about any of this, everyone has different boundaries. ‘Who’s to say that’s not just how Kenma treats his best friend, or even just his regular friends?’ Kuroo shuts down all thoughts when Kenma’s eye begin to flutter, ‘wondering like this will kill me if I don’t stop— that is, if his pretty face doesn’t first.’ Kuroo quickly looks up, as if he’s been staring at the textured ceiling this whole time.

“Morning, pudding head,” he greets, the tiniest quirk in his upper lip present, as if all his melancholy emotions present moments ago were erased.

Kenma hums a sleepy greeting and stretches his limbs, feeling satisfied he sits up and immediately hears several things in his back pop, “I think I need to start sleeping in better positions at night,” he mumbles to no one in particular. Kuroo snickers, forgetting the troubles weighing him down for a moment, “how are you feeling?” Asks Kenma, sleep still clouding his head.

Kuroo ignores the question, “every night you end up curled into a tiny ball, there’s no way it’s good for your back.”

Kenma frowns as he hesitates to pull off the warm bed sheets, not realizing the question’s been dodged, “it feels comfy when i fall asleep though…”

Kuroo hesitates but the words tumble out anyways along with a sheepish chuckle, “you always look like a little kitten when you sleep like that, it’s pretty cute.” Kenma looks away to hide his pink face and suddenly Kuroo can feel the heavy stones trapped in his chest and throat. He shouldn’t say things like that, he’s just setting himself up for disappointment. “I’ll let you get dressed now,” quickly says Kuroo, his playful voice and teasing smirk suddenly freezing over as he flees the room before Kenma can even turn his head around.

Kuroo nearly sprints to a bathroom down the hallway and locks himself in, he turns the faucet to scalding temperatures and vigorously splashes his face as he works to calm himself. For just a moment, he thought about reaching his hand out and gently turning Kenma's face towards him and then… and then Kuroo's thoughts snap back into focus as he stares into the bathroom mirror, studying his tired hazel eyes and red dusted cheeks while biting the skin of his own tongue so hard he accidentally draws blood. Metallic and thick as it oozes from his tongue, Kuroo growls in frustration before spitting the blood into the sink and and giving his face another vigorous scrub with scalding water.

Kuroo’s calloused fingertips massage his tautly and worried face, ‘Kenma doesn’t like me like that, there’s just no way it could ever be possible. I already struggle to understand how he can put up with me in the first place— it’s not like i’m even worth it anyways.’ Kuroo grabs a soft green towel and pats his face dry, frowning.

 

Kenma stares at the spot besides him where Kuroo sat moments ago, a pained frown quickly taking hold of his once blushing face, they’d been sharing a special moment but then when Kuroo abruptly decided to practically run away leaving Kenma floundering and stunned, his heart lurched with disappointment and want. Kenma stares down at his fidgeting hands, ‘Did I cross a line? But it was Kuroo who said it— was it an accident? Did I misinterpret it? What other way even is there to interpret something like that? …Does he regret saying it? …It doesn't matter,’ Kenma decides before tossing the covers off himself, 'I’ll apologise for it either way.’ Kenma’s mind still continues to obnoxiously buzz as he trudged into his bathroom to take a shower.

Kenma sits under the steaming water sprinkling onto him from up above and picks at his cuticles, having finished cleaning himself almost 20 minutes ago. He sits there hunched over in thought, letting the warm rivulets of water cascade down his pale skin as he tries to stop himself from over reacting. Kenma thinks of all the times Kuroo has helped him and takes a deep breath that fills every corner of his lungs, exhaling with a tiny smile. “Kuroo doesn’t suddenly hate me, that’s ridiculous… whatever the reason was— it’s not that big of a deal, and he didn’t mean anything bad by it.” Kenma tells himself, the sound of his voice lost in the droning and repetitive sounds of water hitting the shower floor.

Kenma stares at his feet for a moment longer, deep down, he’s not completely convinced it was nothing, but he’s managed to assure himself at the very least that it isn’t one of the far more unreasonable conclusions. Kenma lets out a sigh and stands up to turn the water off. 

Kenma takes his time getting dressed, settling on an oversized black tank top and vibrant red short shorts before heading down stairs expecting the usual sight of Kuroo sitting on the sofa chatting with Bokuto and/or Hinata, but he’s not there. Kenma’s foot nearly misses the next step of the stairs but Kenma haphazardly steadies himself on the railing before swinging around and taking two steps at a time up the stairs, he checks all the bathrooms and bedrooms, every single room upstairs, but he’s not there. Finally, Kenma walks down the stairs again, delicate fingers twirling a loose thread from his shirt and heads to the kitchen, “Suga-san, I don’t want to bother you but have you seen Kuroo?”

Suga looks up from the cookbook he’s been reading intently, “I actually have, maybe ten minutes ago he offered to do an errand for me— he said he just wanted a reason to get out of the house,” Suga frowns and his brows furrow, “he seemed a little distressed but I could tell he was trying to hide it. I asking if everything was alright and he seemed really dismissive, is everything alright?” the silver haired familiar asks now with a twinge of almost motherly worry in his voice.

Kenma bites the inside of his cheek and feels the seeds of panic begin to grow within his chest, “I don’t know… I really hope so.”

“I sent him to the store, if you walk fast enough i’m sure you can catch up to him,” offers Suga.

Kenma almost does just that, but he hesitates in agreeing with Suga and furrows his brows as her really mulls it over, would trying to talk to Kuroo really be the best idea right now? Kuroo’s been off ever since he ran off this morning… is it coincidence or something more? Is his dream from last night still bugging him? Ah. “I think i’ll stay here and wait,” Kenma quickly mumbles to Suga distracted by him own thoughts before grabbing an apple and heading straight up to his room once more.

Kenma scowls to himself as he throws his entire body onto his king sized bed, of course it’s the dream from last night! That guilt inside Kuroo has literally been festering for over a hundred years. Kenma purposefully slams his head into his pillow as hard as he can, it was the obvious reason yet somehow Kenma seemingly forgot that decades worth of repressed trauma can’t just be wiped away with one late night chat— god, Kenma really wants to smash a rock against his own head at this point.

“i’m such an inconsiderate, poor excuse of a friend,” groans Kenma into his pillow. “I can’t even help him right now, how am I supposed to tell him I—“ Kenma stops himself and forces out a sigh. Kuroo wanted to be alone and it’s best to just wait for him to come back, “maybe I shouldn’t say anything when he gets back either? I have to respect that he doesn’t want to talk… but…” Kenma grimaces into his pillow.

 

The crisp and pleasant morning air holds a sharp contrast in mood as Kuroo walks to some store he doesn’t remember the name of, he’s supposed to be buying new bed sheets or something, of course, that’s not what his head is focused on at the moment.

Kuroo’s fists stay hidden away in his pockets, clenched in frustration and turmoil.

How? How could someone as vile as him possibly think they deserve anything he’s gotten? How could Kenma know what he was and not find him revolting? He doesn’t deserve they sympathy or kind smiles. Kuroo doesn’t deserve any of it, not after everything he did. The last time he saw Daishou the demon held a look of utter contempt hidden away in the dark pools of his eyes, and Kuroo finally under why, how dare he think for a second that he was any better than Daishou, that he had any right to escape the mud that was his existence to frolic with humans and embrace purity.

Kuroo’s limbs flow through the motions without a thought and soon he’s already walking out the store, bought items carefully bagged and in hand. The outside world feels different this time around; everything feels muted, even the colors themselves, and the air is stagnant.

There are no people around and Kuroo’s step stutters, why are there no people around?

The hair on the back of Kuroo’s neck stands on end like someone is breathing right down his neck and his foggy senses snap back into focus as he whips around, aiming to deliver a fiery sucker punch, but he’s too late as someone he knows all too well grabs both his arms with bruising force. The treacherous demon whispers into Kuroo’s ear sending chills down his spine, “I changed my mind.”

A sharp skull splitting pain bursts to life within Kuroo’s skull and his legs turn to jelly. Kuroo struggles in vain to push through the pain and stand up and fight but black spots are already clouding his vision. A blurry figure crouches over him, malicious eyes sharp and contrasting the rest of his vision, “Daishou.”

The demon grins, “it’s been far too long, Tetsu.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *looks at my capacity for motivation and overall will to do anything*
> 
> me: this bitch is empty, y e e t.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *TRIGGER WARNING*  
> halfway through writing this I kinda realized that shit gets pretty serious. There’s some relatively mild torture as far as torture can go and some descriptions of quite unpleasant deaths so be weary just in case.

Once more, Kuroo sits helplessly trapped within his own personal hell scape of the looming, twisted homes of his village engulfed by ever burning flames and searing hot ash whipping through the skies and onto his skin by the intense heat that radiates from all around. His head bowed low in shame, observing the charred dirt below the calloused palms of his hands. Kuroo stares down, paralyzed despite his best efforts to move. The overwhelming infernos surrounding him leave his lungs struggling to breathe, wheezing as he desperately inhales the impure ash and soot. He blinks rapidly, but his irritated and dry eyes find no relief amid the blaze.

“Oh chin up,” speaks a condescending voice that is his own, but at the same time utterly and fundamentally different. Even the ground which Kuroo touches is too hot now, his hands burn and he’s struggling to breathe as he watches the dirt and ash warp and shift below his fingertips, “why are you so upset? This is nothing,” his doppelgänger laughs and Kuroo feels a head splitting pain behind his eyes, this pain is too real and nothing makes sense as Kuroo roughly gasps for breath, but even breathing causes pain to radiate from within his chest. “Pathetic.” His doppelgänger says, the contempt in his voice made clear as he roughly yanks Kuroo’s dirty hair and wrenches his head up to stare into onyx pools that seem to reflect every sin he ever committed. “You deserve worse.” Kuroo wrenches himself free and falls back to the ground, clenching his fist in the sizzling dirt and ash below, muttering out words lost in the roars of the blazing pillars all around, hunched and looming over him. He receives a sharp kick to the gut that leaves him wheezing, “I can’t hear you, speak up!” barks the monster in front of Kuroo.

“He said—“ a nasty cough racks through his lungs, interrupting him, “said I-I need to stop blaming myself.” 

The copy exhales a sharp breath of amusement, “Say… out of all the carcasses you left behind in your path, how many alone do you think were children?” Kuroo trembles as the shadows of accusing faces watch him from within the flames. He gets kicked once more, “how many mothers?” Another kick to the chest and Kuroo curls into a ball on the ground, the fires lean over him and more eyes bore into his guilt ridden body. “How many fathers?” Kick. “How many Lovers?” Kick. “Brothers?” Kick. “Sisters?” Another kick. Kuroo can’t breathe, the air is too caked in soot and the slightest movement of his chest causes harsh aches that ripple throughout his body, “you don’t deserve to get away with it all,” whispers the copy, visibly gone but his voice booming out from the raging fires, “you especially don’t deserve him, that little light that shines through in the waste that is your existence, Kenma.”

 

Kuroo awakes with a sharp inhale, followed by immediate regret as pain radiates from his ribs and head, filling his body with anguish as he violently coughs. However, it’s when Kuroo tries to move; only for his arms and legs to be restrained by powerful magic binding that his mind fully wakes from his dream. His eyes shoot open and his head whirls around in order to check his surroundings, but instead his senses are assaulted with total disorientation that leaves his vision spinning from within the darkness that surrounds him. He groans, hunched over in pain on the hard, metallic chair where he sits shackled, battling the spots in the corner of his vision. 

The room he’s in smells of rust and is long and featureless as far as Kuroo can tell, shrouded in pitch black darkness, Kuroo furrows his brows and pushes through the pain in his body enough to recall what happened before he woke up, ‘it’s been far too long, Tetsu.’ The words of the serpent demon echo through his memories. Kuroo growls, “Daishou.” Anger quickly rises to the surface despite the pain he’s in.

“You called?” Questions a familiar wretched voice from inside the darkness. A few approaching footsteps can be heard “Looks like you were having a nice dream, what a shame.” Even in complete darkness Kuroo can practically see Daishou’s foul grin. The demon flicks on a lighter, lighting the strange rusted room Kuroo’s trapped in with dim orange light and unnatural shadows flickering in erratic ways. The shadows cast strange forms over Daishou’s face, warping him to look more monstrous than he already is, “you woke up on the way here, so I had to give you a few broken ribs for good measure, I probably wouldn’t move too much if I was you.”

The awful pain in Kuroo’s head doesn’t let him recall such events and he sneers, “what the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

“I think I’m about to give you a fucking wake up call, and I don’t care how long I’ll have to drill it into your head before you understand it because one way or another you will understand!”

Eyes closed, Kuroo begins to grit his teeth as an intense wave of heat rolls off of him before his whole body is engulfed in his own magical flames, bathing the entire room in intense yellow light as the temperature of the humid air surrounding the both of them quickly climbs by the hundreds.

Surprised, Daishou takes a step back before letting out a harsh bark of laughter, “go ahead and flame on for as long as you can until you burn yourself out, it won’t do you any good, your fire isn’t even close to being strong enough to undo your bindings.”

Now spurred on further Daishou’s jeering Kuroo’s magic roars with crackling flames and heat that spreads out further into the rusted, featureless container, the scorching fire ready to consume all in its path, but Kuroo falters as he opens his eyes, he only sees the demon in front of himself for a moment before his vision warps into the sight of hot flames eating away at home, his own fire engulfing his body suddenly turns suffocating, the shadows of accusing eyes morphing into existence from within his own flames and smothering him with their judgment— “stop!” 

Just like that, the room is shrouded in total darkness once more, Kuroo doubles over in pain, panting with panicked breaths that leave his bruised chest and broken ribs burning with pain, his own raspy, desperate plea ringing in his ears.

Daishou’s lighter flickers to life once more, and this time he lights a candle on the floor, “that was a nice show— the fear in your eyes— I’d love to know what you saw.” Daishou steps forward now, crouching down to meet Kuroo’s eyes who refuse to meet his as he tries to get a handle on his breathing, coughing from the pain. “So is that all then Tetsu? Did you get everything out of your system?” He doesn’t wait for a response, his voice like poisoned honey, “good good—“ the demon’s tone shifts into a hard cold one, “now it’s my turn to talk.” 

Daishou stands at his full height again, “that night I saved your ass you disappeared, and then suddenly Kiyoko tells me she found you, and what are you doing? You’re fucking prancing around with humans as if you truly belong with them— and now, suddenly you’re just some familiar that does a human’s every bidding, all with a smile.” Kuroo finally lifts his head to meet Daishou’s eyes, hidden within the flickering shadows the candle‘s light casts, “don’t make me laugh!” Daishou encases his fist in a black magical energy and punches Kuroo straight in the jaw, pain flairs out from the point of contact rattling his brain and leaving his vision spinning, “how dare you go socialize and play with humans as if the filth that corrupts your existence can just be wiped away.” Another strike, this time to the nose, it’s definitely broken now. Kuroo groans in pain but for a strange moment he feels the comforting brush of a familiar anima, but that feeling is quickly ripped away from him. “You are not one of them, and you never will be.” The demon slams his knee into Kuroo’s chest and he screams out in agony, he hunches over, gritting his teeth as pain shoots through his chest with every shakily drawn breath, spots claiming the corners of his blurred vision. “Does that human you adore so much know what you’ve done? I mean—“ he chuckles and places a hand on Kuroo’s bruised chest, “does he really know? Has he gotten the chance to see you skin a man alive? How about laying eyes on the pretty blue carcass of a woman you strangled to death? Or maybe he should watch you slit a mother’s throat in from of her children. That—“ Daishou begins to push his palm into Kuroo’s chest, eliciting screams of pain, “would really be fun, huh?” Daishou pushes his hand harder against Kuroo’s broken ribs, grinning, “I bet your little pet human would look at you a little differently if he really knew how deep the vices flow through your veins. I know you still got some of that vicious, malevolence in you—“ more spots cover Kuroo sight and blood coats his mouth as he bites his tongue as hard as he can in a futile effort to stop screaming, “that rage you showed while using you magic before you had that cute little break down? That was real, just imagine if a fragile, little, pure human had been in your blast zone, the smell of burnt flesh alone would’ve been intoxicating.” Finally relenting from putting pressure on Kuroo’s broken ribs, Daishou roughly grabs his jaw instead, a vibrant blue and purple already beginning to bloom from the angry red marks on his jaw and nose. “you’ve committed so many sinful acts, Tetsu, you deserve to lie in the mud just like the rest of us.”

Daishou’s orange candle lit face is blurred beyond the point of recognition and black spots have nearly consumed his entire field of vision. As Kuroo’s ringing ears fail to register muffled shouts from outside he has one last thought before passing out again, ‘he’s right, I deserve this.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m really sorry I made everyone wait so long only to hurt y’all like this, I love my bb boy Kuroo I swear pls forgive me


End file.
